Sweet Sacrifice
by Shadow Serenity 57
Summary: In the dangerous Pokemon world, it isn't uncommon for new trainers to go missing. However, lately the number of disappearances has been rising, including many notably skilled trainers. Meanwhile, two young adults begin their journey and unknowingly become entwined in a bizarre plot that threatens to overwhelm them. Thankfully, they don't have to combat this new threat alone...
1. A Late Beginning

A/N: I redid this chapter slightly and re-uploaded it, now that I have a plot. Also, I decided to take out the talking Pokemon bit. Aaaand that's about it.

* * *

**Chapter 1: A Late Beginning**

"Alex, are you awake? Come on, we're going to be late," shouted a female voice on the other side of the bedroom door. "I thought you were really looking forward to this?"

"Yeah, I'm almost ready," replied a boy from inside the bedroom after a second, surprised that his guest wasn't waiting outside and instead apparently broke into his house. So surprised, in fact, that he'd forgotten to get angry that she used his real name. "You can come in," the boy added, just after pulling on his shirt, black and torn. The boy, in his late teens, ran his hand through his untidy pale yellow hair, trying to make it look somewhat controlled. He then reached for his belt and began to secure it through the loops on the brown jeans he matched to his shirt. He looked up as the door across the room opened.

The girl who stood in the doorway eyed Alex and blew a kiss at him. He just stared in return, captivated by the girl's face as the sunlight caught it, reflecting in her beautiful green eyes and brightening her features. She was about the same age as him, he knew, only a few months between their birth dates. Her golden hair was, as usual, back in a long ponytail that fell down just past her waist. Her top was something of her own design, a vibrant red shirt with only one sleeve – the top of the shirt curved downwards at the neck to a little under the arm. It was short, leaving her stomach exposed down to her black leather skirt, complimented by long socks, a bit darker red than the shirt, and her favorite black boots. She was holding a bright green bag over her shoulder.

"Morning, Kimiko," Shadow said, all thoughts he previously had of what day it was now wiped from his mind.

"'Morning, Shadow," the girl replied brightly. "Come on, get your bag and let's go! You did pack last night like I suggested, right? Please tell me you did."

"Uh, yeah," Shadow replied. Hesitantly looking away, he glanced quickly around his small bedroom twice for his backpack, feeling embarrassed when he didn't immediately spot it. He sighed and slowly swept the room with his eyes… starting by turning to check behind him (blinding himself momentarily by the morning sunlight that was shining in through his two windows in the process), passing the empty black-cushioned chair he'd set in the corner for reading, quickly scanning the cluttered desk pressed up against the adjacent wall and the section of white-carpeted floor under it, and then the third wall of the pale green room, where a dresser sat next to the door to the closet. At least he knew his backpack wasn't in there because he had packed it last night and hadn't been in the closet since the morning before, when he gathered everything he'd need for his journey from it.

Moving on, his eyes found Kimiko again. For a second, he forgot why he was looking around the room when his eyes only had to look directly in front of him to see what they were looking for. But then Kimiko rolled her eyes, a taunting smile on her face, and pointed to something on Shadow's left. His eyes followed her finger. She was pointing to a dark blue backpack resting on top of an unmade bed. Shadow slapped his forehead, having completely forgotten about it when he saw the girl, and reached for it, placing only one strap over his shoulder.

He looked back towards the girl blocking his doorway and took a step towards her. She looked down and raised an eyebrow.

"Shoes?" she asked, now pointing at Shadow's bare feet. Shadow looked down also and sighed again.

"That would be nice, wouldn't it?" he said, setting down his backpack on the bed. Kimiko couldn't suppress her giggle this time as he pulled a pair of socks from his dresser and pulled them on, followed by his white sneakers.

"Now are we sure we have everything this time?" Kimiko asked teasingly, winking at him. "Food? Money? Brain?"

"Yes, mom," Shadow replied, also in a joking tone, as he stood up and replaced the backpack on his shoulder. Kimiko walked up and kissed him quickly before turning and leaving the room, heading downstairs. Shadow waited until she had started down the stairs before quickly heading to his desk and hastily retrieving his house key, which he had indeed almost forgotten. He really was glad Kimiko tolerated the memory loss that had a habit of plaguing him whenever he was near her. As he reached the bedroom door, he turned and gave the room one last glance, trying to burn the image into his mind, before closing the door and heading downstairs, where Kimiko was waiting.

* * *

Crescent Town was a fairly small and quiet place, to the point where all of the few inhabitants knew each other. Shadow and Kimiko walked hand-in-hand through the town's main road in the chilly morning breeze, though the silence was awkward and unusual. Shadow knew Kimiko was just as excited about today as he was himself, what with having had to wait almost ten years after the normal age children usually start their Pokémon journey, but he couldn't help noticing her lack of enthusiasm since she left him back in his bedroom. Shadow glanced at her through the corner of his eye; she was actually frowning now, her eyes rather unfocused, seemingly lost in thought.

"What's wrong?" he immediately asked.

"Nothing," she said quietly, then, knowing Shadow wouldn't let this response stand, she elaborated, "thinking about my sister. It's gonna be weird not looking after her anymore."

"She'll be fine with your aunt," Shadow replied, and squeezed her hand reassuringly. She didn't seem at all comforted by the thought, so Shadow raked his brain for a change of subject. He had been about to ask how she'd gotten into his house, but now that his mind was clear, he remembered that she had a key – he'd given it to her, after all. Instead, he thought of something more interesting. He'd been meaning to ask her again for a week anyway, so now seemed as good time as any.

"So, uh, have you decided what Pokémon you're gonna pick?"

This seemed to catch her attention. "No," she sighed. "Squirtle is so cute, but Torchic is too. And both evolve into really good Pokémon. I don't even know what I want to train in addition so I can't very well decide based on what types my team might need in the future."

"We can do this another time," Shadow said. "We've had to wait this long, another month-"

"No!" Kimiko said fiercely, stopping in her tracks. "Not a chance. I've made you wait so much longer as it is."

"You didn't make me wait," Shadow reminded her, also stopping. "I chose to."

Kimiko muttered something under her breath, but it did not go unnoticed by her partner, having been so accustomed to this behavior.

"It was _not_ a stupid decision," Shadow said, regretting his suggestion to postpone their journey further. "We'd agreed to do this together from the beginning. It's not your fault you had to take care of your sister for the last five years. And there was never a chance of me traveling the region without you, you know that, so please don't start this again."

They stared intensely at each other for a few moments before Kimiko broke the silence.

"You can be so stubborn sometimes."

Shadow laughed loudly. "Ha! Look who's talking," he shot back. Kimiko smiled weakly before leaning over and kissing him, which he eagerly returned.

"I'm sorry. You're right. I just… feel bad, you know? I know it bothered you enough having to wait till you were fifteen…"

"Yeah, well, what are overprotective parents for, eh?" Shadow said, smiling again also. "Besides, helping care for the Pokémon at the lab made it less painful."

"You spent a lot of time caring for that Chikorita," Kimiko pointed out suspiciously as they started walking again, still hand-in-hand. "I know you were planning to pick her as your starter, but isn't that cheating a bit? Helping her to practice moves before you even officially own her and all?"

"I can't help it if the Pokémon I was going to pick anyway became attached to me," Shadow just said, though his smile only widened. "Besides, its not as if she has any real battle experience, I just helped her learn a few new moves, at her own request, by the way. So its not really as if she'll give me a huge advantage over any other starter."

"I guess. But you and her already have a sort of… I dunno, a bond or something already."

"I think you're just jealous," Shadow said. "She just wanted to be the best starter she could be. It's only natural for her to bond with whoever it was training her so intently."

"That's just it, though. Normally a trainer doesn't get to bond with his Pokémon _before_ he owns it."

Shadow considered that for a minute. While it was true that most trainers don't even meet their starter before they obtain it, was it really like cheating to befriend and help train a Pokémon, knowing it would become yours later anyway? He tried to convince himself that there was nothing wrong with it, that he was only helping the Pokémon at her request, not for his own gain. He felt unsure now, however, if he could really justify that, and he struggled to keep the thought out of his mind for the rest of the awkwardly silent walk to the region's resident professor's research lab.

* * *

"My, you two are cutting it close," came a deep, raspy voice as Shadow and Kimiko entered the lab a short while later. After looking around the odd sitting room that looked like it belonged to a house rather than a Pokémon lab, the couple headed to the room beyond the door at the back, assuming that was where the voice came from.

"Sorry Luke, there was… something we had to take care of. Today of all days," Shadow replied as they entered.

The owner of the raspy voice, the man called Luke, who looked to be in his late thirties, sat off to the right at a desk, engrossed in whatever paper he was looking at. He marked something on it with a pencil near the end, perhaps the point where he stopped reading, and looked up at the new arrivals. He looked as if he'd been up all night – his white lab coat was unbuttoned, open, and stained with what looked like coffee, and the red tie he was wearing was actually untied and lazily thrown around his neck. His dark brown hair was ruffled and sticking out in places, as if it had been pulled at multiple times. The man's glasses were ever so slightly lopsided and his blue eyes bloodshot. On the desk next to his paper sat what appeared to be the remains of some sort of meat on a plate and, indeed, a nearly empty mug of coffee.

"So, today's the big day, huh?" said Luke. Without waiting for a reply, he looked at his watch and added, "You're lucky this isn't the normal season trainers start coming around, else you'd have nothing to choose from!"

Again without waiting for a reply, Luke wheeled his chair back, stood up, and headed for a door across the room. "I'm sorry for my appearance," he went on, "I had completely forgotten you were coming today for a reason other than work. It's going to be very empty around here without you two. Follow me."

"Professor Hawkins, where's Professor Spruce?" asked Kimiko as they followed the man. He had led them to a room in the very heart of the building, the room where all the Pokémon were stored in their pokéballs. All around the room were shelves upon shelves of the little red and white spheres, arranged nearly in rows with occasional breaks between them for people to walk through, like a row of bookcases in a library. He stopped in front of a computer with some kind of green tube connected to the back of the monitor.

"Oh, he's in the very back, apparently one of the eggs hatched really early this morning, and it turns out it's a Pokémon he's never seen before. Not sure how it happened, honestly, we don't have any Pokémon in the lab that haven't been discovered yet."

Shadow and Kimiko exchanged a glance that pretty much meant _Well, duh_.

"So he told me to tend to you when you got here," Luke continued. "I just was so absorbed into my research that I had forgotten to eat or get prepared or anything else. Anyway, Professor Spruce is busy examining the new Pokémon so he asked me to give you his best wishes and good luck on your travels, and please do remember to check in with us once in a while." Luke then bowed slightly, and looked expectantly at the couple.

"Uh, Luke… you haven't given us our Pokémon yet," Shadow said.

"What? Oh! Oh my… I'm so terribly sorry, I'm just extremely tired you see and I've gone through a few mugs of coffee this morning to try to stay up and my memory isn't what it normally is under these conditions, but you obviously know how I normally-"

"Professor," Kimiko cut him off. "Our Pokémon?"

"Right, right, I'm sorry. So then, I assume you both know what Pokémon you would like to choose?"

"I do," Shadow said, stepping forward.

"I think I know who you want," Professor Hawkins said, "but let's see if I'm right. Well, Shadow, who is it?"

"He's going by Alex now, professor," Kimiko pointed out.

"Oh, really? Given up on the nickname, then?"

"No," Shadow replied with a hint of annoyance. "I've just accepted that it will be what I need for all the official trainer registration junk, since it's my legal name and all. But I'm keeping the nickname. Anyway, I've chosen Chikorita," he finished, not wanting to discuss the name he so loathed.

"Aha! You're very predictable, my young friend. The way that little Pokémon follows you around, you would think you're her mother or something, it's really quite cute-"

"Er… yeah," Shadow said, interrupting.

"Yes, right, well." Luke cleared his throat and walked over towards the computer. He typed something rather fast, and a few seconds later, a pokéball dropped out of the green tube.

Professor Hawkins stood up and reached for the ball, but before he could pick it up, it automatically opened, releasing onto the desk a tiny, green animal with four short legs and a short tail. The little creature had a ring of darker green spots around her neck, and a large leaf atop her head.

"Chiko!" the Chikorita squeaked happily.

"Hey there," Shadow started. "I guess I'll get right to the point. I'd like to ask you something. I've, er… I'm technically a new trainer, so I'm going to be starting my journey, and I've… well, I'd like to know if you would like to come with me and be my official starter."

Shadow immediately felt nervous. What if Chikorita said no? What if she wanted to stay at the lab? He mentally slapped himself for not thinking of, and preparing for, that possibility sooner.

Chikorita relieved him of his worries, however, as she screeched with glee and jumped off the desk towards him. He nearly tripped as he lunged forward to catch her before she hit the ground from her miscalculated leap of joy. He cradled her in his arms as the Pokémon rubbed against him affectionately.

"You know, that reminds me…" piped up Professor Hawkins, who appeared to have just been sleeping on his feet since the Chikorita had emerged. "Why did you two wait so long, to start this journey, anyway? You know it's going to be much more difficult at this age."

"That's my fault," Kimiko said, though she seemed to immediately regret speaking, and looked away distractedly.

"It's like this," Shadow sighed before launching into a hurried explanation. "Starting at the beginning, our parents decided for us that they wouldn't allow us to be trainers officially until we were fifteen. Naturally, we both complained like crazy, but I guess we know where we got our stubbornness from." He looked at Kimiko, but his mild attempt at humor didn't seem to faze her, so he continued. "Anyway, before we reached their age limit, Kimiko's father was killed. As far as I know, no one's really sure of the details, except it wasn't natural. She was told that his body was found… in pieces. You can see why she doesn't like talking about it.

"No one knows what happened to her mother, either. She left her father when Kimiko was young, and apparently they just never heard from her again. So that left Kimiko to care for her younger sister, Michelle. Their aunt essentially adopted them, but she's apparently rather frail also so she couldn't really help, other than allowing them to live with her.

"And that's pretty much it. Kimiko had to care both for herself and Michelle for the last five years. As for me, I just decided to wait for her. That's why we offered our help here at the lab; we still wanted to work with Pokémon. But now Michelle is old enough to take care of herself, so now we're getting started."

Shadow just shrugged as he finished, waiting for someone to speak. Chikorita just nodded in grim understanding, while Luke seemed to have fallen asleep again. _He must really be exhausted _Shadow thought, sighing. Well, at least Chikorita had listened to the whole story.

He turned around with Chikorita in his arms to see Kimiko leaning against one of the shelves, her eyes unfocused again. It took him a second to realize that something was wrong with the picture before him, something more than just Kimiko's distant expression.

Then it hit him. He leaned forward slightly and Chikorita jumped to the ground out of instinct. Shadow was thankful that she'd understood, somewhere in the back of his mind. He called Kimiko's name as he ran forward, barely catching the shelf she had been leaning on which was beginning to fall backwards, unable to support the added weight of the girl leaning against it. She gasped as she stumbled away, and Shadow was able to push the shelf back into a standing position before it toppled over.

However, one pokéball was apparently not secured well in its place and fell to the ground, where it opened in a flash of light. When the light faded, a small, blue Pokémon had appeared next to Chikorita. The little creature had what looked like a fin on its head as well as its tail, and a few bright orange whiskers on its face. Shadow recognized it as a Mudkip.

"I'm sorry little guy," Kimiko said as she watched the terrified creature. Tears began to form in the little blue fish's eyes, which had grown wide upon seeing other living beings. Kimiko knelt down and offered Mudkip her hand in an attempt to make herself appear less threatening. Mudkip did not look convinced, as it slowly backed away.

Kimiko pulled her hand back as Chikorita walked up to the shaking creature and sniffed it. The Mudkip seemed to be frozen in fear as Chikorita walked around it, sniffing curiously. After making a full circle, she looked at Mudkip with a smile and said, "Rita!"

Mudkip screamed in terror and ran forward, diving into Kimiko's lap in an attempt to hide as Kimiko and Chikorita looked at each other in surprise.

"It's okay, she won't hurt you," Kimiko said, taking the blue creature in her arms and holding it against her chest protectively. The Mudkip then looked up into her eyes, examined her face for a moment, then apparently decided she was telling the truth after all – its shaking had stopped, though it still looked frightened.

As Kimiko stood up, careful not to scare Mudkip again, Chikorita extended a vine from one of the spots on her neck around Mudkip's pokéball and handed it to her trainer. Shadow, in turn, held it out to Kimiko.

"Would you like to go back into your pokéball now?" she asked the creature. In response, the Mudkip climbed out of her arms and up onto her right shoulder, and proceeded curl itself around a strand of her hair.

"I think he likes you," Shadow pointed out.

"He wasn't intended as a starter," said Luke suddenly, which made everyone jump. He was sitting in the chair by the computer, still looking very worn out, but apparently awake – Shadow guessed the noise from Mudkip's screaming woke him, or that he was never really asleep and just resting his eyes. "But it does seem that he's warmed up to you."

Kimiko carefully picked Mudkip off her shoulder to get a good look at him. Shadow thought he seemed somehow smaller than the last Mudkip he'd worked with at this very lab. Somehow, he looked cuter, too. Perhaps it had something to do with the large eyes that were just begging to be brought along with them.

"Okay," she said after another minute, smiling at the creature. "You'll be my starter, then."

Shadow, now carrying Chikorita, extended his hand to his girlfriend; likewise, Chikorita extended a vine to Mudkip. "Congrats," he said.

Immediately, the water Pokémon squeaked in terror and buried his face in Kimiko's shirt. She began to rock him in her arms like a newborn baby.

"Well," said Professor Hawkins as he stood, "the professor had, thankfully, set up the documents for your trainers licenses on this computer, but I'm afraid we don't have any pokédex to give you, since trainers don't normally start showing up for another four months or so, so for now you will have to just go on without one until you can buy one in the next town. You can register your new Pokémon online with your license, so you should probably do that now. And then, I suppose you're finished here. When you do get a pokédex, that can serve as your identification and license too, as well as Pokémon registration and all that."

"Sounds good," Shadow said, sitting in front of the computer first with Chikorita at his side and Kimiko and Mudkip right behind him.


	2. The First Fright

**Chapter 2 - The First Fright**

"So… what exactly are we doing here?" Kimiko asked sounding concerned.

After leaving Professor Spruce's lab and taking one last look at Crescent Town in the distance, the couple and their new Pokémon finally set out on their way, heading northwest down route 501. It was a warm, breezy spring afternoon, not a cloud in the sky to block the cheerful sunlight. Shadow and Kimiko had let Chikorita and Mudkip remain out of their pokéballs to enjoy the fresh air. The small group walked for an hour or two with no interruptions, until Shadow had said he had gotten an idea and veered off the path directly westward towards their current location, the outskirts of a very dense-looking forest, standing in front of a wooden sign rooted in the ground. The sign read in large bold letters "Whispering Forest". Immediately beneath, in only slightly smaller, red font, read "Warning! Ghost Pokémon make their home in these woods. Caution is advised."

"Well," Shadow answered with a smirk, "I thought it would be cool, seeing as it's our first night as adventurers, to camp the night in here."

"You can't be serious," Kimiko retorted. Mudkip, who was previously gripping Kimiko's shoulder and happily chewing on a lock of her hair, tensed, whimpered slightly and dove down into his trainer's arms. She proceeded to cradle the tiny creature protectively. Even Chikorita, the embodiment of joy who had been happily sunbathing atop Shadow's head, drooped her leaf disapprovingly at the news. "Didn't you hear Luke's warning? Three more trainers have vanished this month alone, and you want to go walking up to the devil's door."

"Oh, come on, you're not scared, are you?" Shadow taunted.

"I… of course not, I would just rather not spend my first night sleeping on dirt…" Kimiko replied, blushing slightly.

"Well, it's a two day walk till the next city, so either we sleep in the dirt in there or in the dirt back on route 501."

Kimiko took another look into the dark depths of the forest. The trees were thick enough to block out most of the powerful sunlight, even only a few feet in. "No thanks," she answered. "I choose life."

"Very funny," Shadow said. "I thought you liked ghost stories?"

"I do. I-I just…" A quick movement flashed in the corner of her eye. Kimiko turned to look properly into the forest again, but nothing was moving, save the treetops swaying slightly in the wind. Her expression changed to a mix of curiosity, determination, and fear. "Something – some light - just moved in there."

"Wanna go look?" Shadow said, smirking again.

Kimiko nodded in response, grabbing his hand and leading him down the dirt road and into the Whispering Forest. She kept her eyes rooted to the spot where she saw the motion until they arrived there, where she stopped.

She continued to stare at the bushes, waiting for something to happen. Curious, Chikorita leapt from Shadow's head and inched slowly towards the same spot, sniffing carefully. They all continued to stare for a few minutes.

"Well, this is exciting," Shadow said suddenly, causing Kimiko and Chikorita to jump. He just laughed.

"That wasn't funny!" Kimiko growled, punching him in the shoulder. Chikorita, on the other hand, upon coming to her senses, laughed as well, though her expression was not one of amusement but relief.

"Well, I don't know what you saw, if anything, but it looks like it's long gone. Let's get going."

"Or it's just invisible now… I definitely saw… something." Shadow and Chikorita began walking into the darkness. Kimiko turned for one last look into the bushes before following, with Mudkip still shivering in her arm.

* * *

The darkness seemed to thicken as they walked onwards with Chikorita now leading the group in the light from Shadow's flashlight. Kimiko was making a great effort to appear calm now, though over the course of the hour she had developed a tendency to suddenly look over her shoulder at the slightest sound, or sometimes for no reason that Shadow could see or hear. He himself had a gut feeling they were being followed as well, but passed it off simply as letting Kimiko's constant over-awareness get to him. On the other hand, he knew of the mischievous nature most ghost Pokémon were known to have, and so he kept up his guard as well.

He constantly kept his eyes on Chikorita, not so much to make sure she didn't wander too far ahead as for signs of danger. Though she was still very young, Pokémon had much better senses than people, and so he hoped she would pick up anything out of the ordinary before he did. Sometime along the way Mudkip had cried himself to sleep in Kimiko's arms, though Shadow wasn't sure his senses were so fine-tuned at his age anyway.

Sure enough, after another few hours of awkward silence and stalker-checking, Chikorita stopped walking and tensed up, shifting quickly into a defensive battle stance. Shadow stopped as well, holding out his free arm in front of Kimiko, who had once again turned to look behind her and therefore had not seen Chikorita stop.

"Oh- what's the matter?" she whispered.

"Chik, chiko…" Chikorita growled. The three stood in silence, staring ahead of them, waiting. Suddenly, a cry came from above and as Shadow aimed the light upwards, a small flying figure dove downwards.

"Ri!" Chikorita cried. Shadow aimed the flashlight back in her direction. A small, blue bird had perched on top of Chikorita's leaf and was pecking at it vigorously.

"It's… a Taillow," Shadow sighed. "Throw it off, Chikorita!"

Chikorita, previously curled up into a ball in a futile attempt to protect herself, stood up and violently whipped her leaf forward. The Taillow was hurled a short distance away, but managed to right itself in midair. It chirped angrily at Chikorita before diving again.

"If it's a fight it wants," Shadow said. "Vine whip, Chikorita! Knock it out of the air."

"Rita!" Chikorita extended two vines from the rings around her neck, a skill she and Shadow had practiced for hours back during his work at the lab, and launched them at the incoming Taillow. The tiny bird only barely slipped around the first vine, but was swatted away by the second and thrown harshly into a tree trunk off to the left of the path.

"Again," Shadow ordered, as the tiny bird bravely took flight again, despite its injuries. Chikorita obeyed again, hurling her vines at the bird. This time, however, the Taillow took a dive underneath the incoming attack, leaving the vines to whip the tree. In one fluid motion, the Taillow spread it's wings and pulled up faster than Shadow's flashlight could follow, gliding along the dirt and speeding into Chikorita with a Quick Attack. She was thrown off her feet, but managed to stand and growl at the tiny bird, which had once again taken to the sky and was coming around for a second attack.

"Stubborn little bird," Shadow said. "Tackle attack!"

Chikorita immediately charged right into the path of the oncoming Taillow. With a cry, it picked up speed, going for another Quick Attack. Chikorita lunged forwards as Taillow approached and the two collided. Both Pokémon hit the ground hard, but both stubbornly struggled to their feet again, refusing to give up.

"Hold up, Chikorita," Shadow said, whipping his backpack around and pulling out a pokéball. Chikorita looked back in confusion, wondering why she was told to stop attacking the intruder. Shadow, meanwhile, tossed the pokéball at the Taillow, just clipping a wing as the bird tried to avoid it. The pokéball opened as Taillow was dematerialized into a red light, and then sucked inside. The pokéball then sealed and fell to the ground, where it proceeded to shake as the Taillow resisted.

The two trainers watched the ball in the beam of the flashlight intently, while Chikorita was simply relieved at the break in the action. However, after a few seconds, the pokéball burst open again and the red light escaped, reforming into Taillow. Chikorita scrambled to her feet and prepared to attack again, but Taillow took one look at her and darted off into the darkness with an angry cry.

"Damn," Shadow whispered.

"Not bad for a first try," Kimiko smirked, barely suppressing a giggle.

"I'd like to see you do better," Shadow challenged, a dry smile on his face. Chikorita slowly trotted back towards her trainer, looking completely dejected. Shadow knelt down and rubbed her leaf. "You were great. We'll get it next time."

"Chiko!" Chikorita beamed with glee.

"It's getting late. Why don't we look for a good spot to camp? I bet you're hungry."

"You know me all too well," Kimiko said.

"I was talking to- oh, nevermind. Lead the way, Chikorita."

* * *

The group spent another quarter of an hour walking before simply deciding to camp right on the path, having found no suitable shelter along the way. Using a lighter Shadow brought with him just for this purpose, a fire was started for light and cooking purposes while Kimiko unpacked the two blankets the trainers had brought along, one in each backpack, and spread them out on the ground away from the trail of the embers given off by the fire, one atop the other to form a makeshift bed. Kimiko then proceeded to wake up Mudkip and set out food for him and Chikorita, while Shadow prepared a soup.

Their dinner was interrupted about halfway through by a small shriek, followed by a crash: a baby Weedle had fallen from a tree branch somewhere above. Seconds later, a small group of other Pokémon followed. Three floating skulls surrounded the Weedle, each one's single red eye glowing purple as they prepared to attack.

Without a command, Chikorita had leapt forward and shouted at the Duskull trio. The ghost Pokémon ignored her. Angry, Chikorita whipped her vines at the ground threateningly, but again, the ghosts barely spared her a glance before turning back to their target and instead launching their attacks at the Weedle. The yellow caterpillar was thrown to the side of the path from the force of the triple Night Shade, where it whimpered, but remained still.

As the three Duskull moved in for the kill, Chikorita launched herself protectively in front of the Weedle and once again readied her vines. The middle Duskull shouted at Chikorita, who simply shook her head. All three Duskull rushed forwards.

"Leech Seed!" Shadow called. With a whip of her leaf, Chikorita launched a glowing green seed towards the incoming ghosts. It struck the middle one, where it rooted itself in the Duskull's body before releasing vines made entirely of energy and ensnaring the ghost completely. The trio stopped their advance, and Shadow took the opportunity to strike again.

"Vine Whip!" he called. Chikorita obeyed, lashing out at all three Duskull at once. One of the seed-free ghosts gripped at the seeded one, hissed something at Chikorita, and lead the other two back up into the treetops, away from the stinging vines.

Kimiko stood up and sprinted to the baby Weedle, who still lay in it's landing spot. She carefully picked it up and carried it back to their makeshift bed, and set it down on the soft sheets.

This seemed to be all the Weedle needed, for as soon as it touched the soft material, it's eyes opened and it forced itself upright. It then bravely inched up to Chikorita's food can. Chikorita walked up behind it and happily offered to share with the Weedle, who after tasting the food, proceeded to eat its share.

"We should treat its injuries," Shadow said, walking back to the blankets. "There's a potion in my bag. Behind you."

"I'll get it," Kimiko offered, pulling Shadow's blue backpack towards her and retrieving the purple spray bottle within. She offered her hand to the Weedle, saying softly, "Want me to clean that up for you?"

The Weedle looked questioningly at Chikorita, who smiled and nudged Weedle forward with an encouraging "Chik!" Weedle nodded in response and inched up Kimiko's arm.

"This might sting a little, but only for a minute. Are you ready?" Again, Weedle looked towards Chikorita for confirmation that this was safe before agreeing. Kimiko covered the Weedle's eyes, careful to avoid it's stinger, and sprayed the yellow bug's forehead.

Immediately, the Weedle let out a cry of protest and leapt away from the potion. That was all it took; within seconds, buzzing could be heard overhead.

"We should probably go now…" Shadow said, knowing it was already too late. Chikorita patted the Weedle hastily in an attempt to calm it down, but the crying continued. It didn't take long for at least a dozen Beedrill to swarm around the fire, angry and buzzing.

Both trainers stood up; Chikorita ran to Shadow's side and took on her defensive battle pose, while Mudkip squealed in fright and hid behind Kimiko's boot, leaving Weedle whimpering alone in the center of the blankets.

One of the Beedrill hovered closer. This particular Beedrill was different from the rest of the swarm, having bright, deep blue eyes as opposed to the furious red ones of the other members of the swarm. In addition, in the light of the fire, this Beedrill's body appeared to be a shade of lime green, rather than the normal yellow-orange. It jabbed a stinger out threateningly, which Chikorita was quick to deflect with her vines, though Shadow noticed something off.

"Chikorita, wait," Shadow ordered. His Pokémon looked up at her trainer curiously, though she refused to lower her vines. "I don't think it was attacking, it was way too slow. I think it was just meant as a warning." The Beedrill slowly nodded in confirmation, and then proceeded to make noises akin to communication, though neither human could understand a word it was saying.

"I think… I think they're acting so unusual because we have their baby," Kimiko said softly. Turning to the Beedrill, she spoke again: "We didn't hurt it… he had a… a wound, on his head. But we didn't cause it! We tried to make it better – to heal it."

The Beedrill turned towards her angrily. Chikorita began speaking then, and the shiny Beedrill's attention shifted once more, listening intently. During the brief conversation, the baby Weedle inched up next to Chikorita. It was no longer crying, instead rubbing itself affectionately against Chikorita.

The shiny Beedrill landed in front of the two Pokémon and extended a stinger carefully. The Weedle smiled at Chikorita, and then crawled onto the offered stinger. Once aboard, the Beedrill took flight again, buzzed something at the group, and then carefully lead the swarm back into the treetops from where they came.

Shadow sighed in relief as Chikorita retracted her vines, while Kimiko punched him in the shoulder again before turning back to the blankets and kneeling down, Mudkip crawling into her lap and curling up. "Still think it was a good idea coming in here?"

"Oh come on," he said defensively. "It was an accident, how was I supposed to know-"

"Let's just… go to sleep," she interrupted softly, sighing. Shadow frowned and knelt down to address his Pokémon.

"Thanks, Chikorita. That's the second time you've protected us tonight. You were really brave," he said, petting her leaf.

"Chikori!" the Pokémon squeaked happily, nuzzling against Shadow's leg.

The trainers set up a small bed of leaves next to their blanket for Chikorita and Mudkip. Mudkip had already fallen back to sleep in Kimiko's lap, so she carefully lifted him and transferred him to the new spot. Chikorita lay down beside him, and after settling into a comfortable position, blanketed Mudkip protectively with her leaf. Meanwhile, Shadow and Kimiko settled in under their own blanket. A few minutes of awkward silence passed before the latter spoke.

"I'm sorry," Kimiko whispered, gripping Shadow's hand lightly. "I didn't mean to snap at-"

"Shh," Shadow interrupted, squeezing her hand in response and throwing his other arm over her. In the firelight he could almost swear he saw her blush as she smiled back at him. He leaned in and kissed her forehead before the pair drifted slowly to sleep.

* * *

A loud screech echoed through the trees. Shadow was awakened instantly, though he couldn't see anything – the fire had gone out while they slept. By the movement next to him, though, he could tell that Kimiko and the Pokémon were both wide-awake as well.

"Wh-what is that?" Kimiko asked from the darkness.

"I think it must have been a Pokémon, though it sounded really-"

"Not the noise," Kimiko interrupted. "That… right there."

"I don't see anything… hold on, let me get the flashlight." Shadow blindly reached around for his backpack. His hand bumped into a log from the earlier fire, and something else as he retreated. Kimiko screamed.

"What?" What is it?"

"Something's right behind me, something just touched my leg!"

"Oh… sorry, that was me. I can't find… oh, wait, here it is," Shadow said, finally finding his backpack. Feeling around he reached into the side pocked and retrieved his flashlight and turned it on.

"Here," he said, handing it to Kimiko. "Where was it?"

"Over there," she replied, aiming the light straight down the path. However, the only thing there was Chikorita, facing away, in a defensive battle pose.

"Well, it's gone now," Shadow said simply. He started taking slow, deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. Kimiko continued aiming the light forward, though she too was breathing heavily and slowly. Meanwhile, Mudkip had crawled into her lap at some point and was curled up there, shivering violently.

"So… let's just try to get back to sleep, shall we?" Shadow asked. "Chikorita?"

Just as Chikorita turned around, another earsplitting screech boomed from the darkness, causing everyone to jump and cover their ears. And then, just as suddenly as it started, the sound stopped. Shadow turned around and quickly relit the fire with his lighter.

Kimiko gasped and dropped the flashlight, its beam now lost in the blankets. The ring of bloodthirsty Ghost Pokémon surrounding them was now illuminated by the firelight. Chikorita growled rather feebly as a large Dusclops and three Duskull materialized from thin air in the gap in the ring directly in front of her, making the circle now complete. At least a dozen ghosts now surrounded them, with more hovering overhead.

"They don't look happy," Kimiko said, her voice shaking almost as much as her body.

"They're probably angry that we attacked those Duskull earlier…" Shadow said.

As if in reply, yet another screech bellowed through the forest, coming from above – a lone Banette and it's Shuppet child, perhaps.

The Dusclops let out a short, booming echo before stepping aside to reveal another Pokémon behind it, a Sableye, who stepped slowly into the ring. The Dusclops stepped back into position as Sableye passed. Chikorita, though visibly terrified, stood her ground as the Sableye slowly inched closer, a malicious grin wide on its face.

* * *

A/N: Yay, cliffhangers. Feels good to torture other people with them for a change rather than being on the receiving end. Anyways, yes, I'm actually working on this fic now. I've got a LOT going on in my life at the moment, so I can't promise any sort of time frame for further updates, but... we'll see. Uh... oh, if anyone's got any suggestions for the name of the story, I'd appreciate them, because this name is horrible but I don't know what to call it. ...Of course, naming it without really knowing the plot isn't really practical, but... go with what's in the summary and see how creative you can be. Yeah. Guess that's it, peace~


	3. Revenge of the Swarm

**Ch. 3 - Revenge of the Swarm**

For such a tiny Pokémon, the Sableye was quite intimidating. It was a short, small, purple Pokémon, with two tiny, sharp claws and only slightly larger feet. Its eyes were very similar to diamonds, and glowed just the same. A small gem rested in its stomach, shining bright like a ruby. Grinning rather widely, the Sableye revealed a mouth full of glistening, and sharp, white teeth.

"That… that's the flash I saw when we first entered," Kimiko said suddenly, pointing at the new ghost. "Those eyes…"

Chikorita shot out her vines and whipped the ground in front of her, but the small ghost in front of her continued to creep closer. Still shaking, she growled at the newcomer, but again, the Sableye showed no fear. Instead, it continued to advance, and this time it hissed something at Chikorita.

Shadow and Kimiko simply watched as Chikorita leapt forwards, vines whipping all over, at the Sableye. The ghost lunged forwards as well, nimbly avoiding Chikorita's attack and scratching her side with its sharp claws, as they took on an eerie purple aura. Chikorita let out a cry as the Shadow Claw attack drew blood.

Astonishingly, Chikorita didn't miss a beat as she landed, albeit rather clumsily, spun around and whipped her leaf, sending a flurry of Razor Leaf at the ghost. Sableye, just as quick on the draw, countered by firing several small but quick blasts of light from the emerald on its chest. The strange attack was spot-on, knocking down every leaf Chikorita had conjured.

"Power Gem," Shadow commented. "And Shadow Claw… be careful Chikorita, it's more powerful than it looks!"

"Rita!" his Pokémon answered, crouching down and growling again.

"You… you c-can't seriously… think we can fight our way out?" Kimiko stuttered.

"Not much choice, is there?" Shadow responded. "Chikorita, try Vine Whip again!"

Chikorita launched her fines towards Sableye once again, but unlike before, although Sableye managed to slip aside once again, one of her vines did trip up the ghost, causing it to stumble slightly and land on one knee. Sableye's grin vanished then, to be replaced by a death glare, which, considering Sableye had to eyelids, managed to look frightening just the same.

Sableye snapped its fingers and let out a cry. At once, the ghosts surrounding the small group sprang into action, swooping and screeching all over. Kimiko screamed as Shadow pulled her to the ground to avoid them. Mudkip dove under the blankets, while Chikorita was lashing out at any ghost who came close, but there were so many, she couldn't keep up.

And then, after a loud explosion, the screeching and swooping came to a fierce halt as the Banette who had been making the noise slammed hard into the ground. The rest of the ghosts' stopped whooshing around and shifted their attention to their fallen comrade. Sableye even twisted around with a curious "Sable?"

Seconds later, a familiar buzzing sound filled the cold night air. Led by their shiny leader, the Beedrill swarm shot out of the darkness, their eyes glowing red (and blue, in the case of the leader). The chaos resumed as the forest ghosts and the Beedrill engaged each other in combat.

As the battle developed above them, Shadow and Kimiko began hastily packing up their camp gear. Meanwhile, Sableye turned its attention back towards Chikorita, who had ran back towards her trainer, and with an angry hiss, launched another Power Gem towards her. The attack, however, was deflected by none other than the shiny Beedrill leader. After letting its baby Weedle off its back, it turned and buzzed a challenge at the Sableye, jabbing out a stinger threateningly. The angry ghost-type was more than willing to accept, and the two dove for each other.

Mudkip set down a stray pokéball in Kimiko's lap as she shoved the blanket into her green bag. Just as she picked up the stray pokéball and attempted to stuff it into her now overflowing bag, two large hands gripped her upper arms. She screamed as the Dusclops lifted her into the air, dropping the pokéball as she flailed helplessly. Mudkip let out a whine and gripped her foot.

After a flash of red, two Beedrill swooped in, stingers glowing in preparation for a Twineedle attack. Without a word from the Dusclops, however, they were shot down by two Shadow Balls, courtesy of two of the Duskull that accompanied and defended their parent. Two further Beedrill launched themselves at the Duskull, but again were shot down, this time by two dark purple blasts of Night Shade from the ghosts' eyes.

"Chikorita, get her down! Vine Whip!" Shadow called desperately. Chikorita obeyed, but her attempt was also blocked, this time by a third Duskull and its Disable attack. This Duskull had the slightest hint of a leaf lodged in it's eye socket – the same Duskull that Chikorita had struck with her Leech Seed earlier in the night, apparently wanting revenge. The Duskull engaged Chikorita in a battle of their own, launching Night Shade and Razor Leaf attacks at each other respectively. Meanwhile, the Dusclops continued lifting a screaming Kimiko higher above the battle.

The huge ghost-type let out a booming laugh, causing Kimiko's loudest scream yet. The two Duskull continued to shoot down any Beedrill who got too close, while Sableye continued to keep the Beedrill leader occupied and Chikorita was too busy fending off the third Duskull to help. Shadow watched helplessly from below as Kimiko was lifted just out of range of his flashlight – but not before he caught sight of a small blue blur shooting up her leg.

"M-Mudkip?" Kimiko stuttered between cries. Still shivering as if in the midst of an Earthquake, Mudkip perched himself on Kimiko's shoulder and glared the Dusclops straight in the eye. Kimiko knew it was hopeless, whatever Mudkip was trying to do; he hadn't learned any attacks yet that could even damage the bulky ghost, let alone defeat it. Dusclops simply laughed as Mudkip inhaled a large breath. Then, with a loud "KIIIIIIIP!", Mudkip let out a blast of water from his mouth, directly into Dusclops' eye.

The Dusclops howled in pain, releasing its grip on Kimiko to cover its single eye and leaving Kimiko and Mudkip to fall screaming back towards the ground. Several Pokémon, ghosts and bees alike, scattered as the pair shot by them. Shadow dove underneath and raised his arms; he just managed to catch Kimiko, but her weight was too much for him and she crashed to the ground on top of him, Mudkip landing safely in Kimiko's hair.

"Are you okay?" both humans asked at once. Before either one could answer, something flew above them – the shiny Beedrill leader had been blasted back by a Power Gem, and slammed hard into a tree before crumpling to the ground. The baby Weedle let out a cry and inched away after his mother. The Sableye, looking thirsty for more, stepped up to the humans, still sprawled out on the ground. It grinned wickedly for a moment – and then its face was rammed hard into the dirt by Chikorita, who had bounded up from behind with her vines blazing. The Duskull she had been battling broke off upon hearing it's parent cry out.

"My back…" Shadow winced. Kimiko lifted herself off her boyfriend and then helped him into a sitting position. He reached behind him and produced the fallen pokéball that Kimiko had dropped. He handed it back to her. Chikorita bounded up to them as Sableye regained its footing.

All around them, the ghosts were beginning to retreat as the Beedrill swarm gained the upper hand. The Sableye, however, was not so eager to give in. Still grinning, it hurled a Power Gem at Chikorita. The tiny grass-type countered by shooting a Razor Leaf barrage again, deflecting most of the light attack. Sableye relentlessly launched a blob of ghostly purple energy at Chikorita. In response, Chikorita swung her leaf at the ball and batted it away – right back at Sableye. The ghost was not prepared this time and was thrown back as the purple ball exploded on contact.

"Let's try this again," Shadow said, now on his feet, a new pokéball in hand. He aimed carefully and hurled the capsule at the fallen Sableye. It made contact, opened, and sucked the ghost inside in a flash of red light. The ball landed on the ground and shook violently as Sableye tried to escape, every eye in the area now on it. Eventually, though, the ball slowed, until finally coming still with a _ping_.

Chikorita immediately collapsed from exhaustion, panting heavily. Kimiko fell to her knees, trying her best to hold back the tears in her eyes, and failing. Mudkip crawled into her lap and she lifted him into her arms, cradling him close as she tried to stifle the sound of her crying. Shadow limped to his Pokémon and similarly lifted her into his arms, petting her leaf before moving to pick up his new Pokémon. He set the pokéball and Chikorita down on the blanket that was half-shoved into Kimiko's backpack and half crumpled on the dirt, before kneeling down himself.

Without a word, he wrapped his arms tightly around his girlfriend, pulling her close. Mudkip squeaked as he dove to safety before being squished, but neither human noticed.

"Are you okay?" Shadow whispered.

"Mmm…" was all Kimiko said in response. Shadow could feel her whole body trembling. Not that he blamed her after all she just suffered through. At his insistence, no ness.

"Listen…" Shadow continued, affectionately brushing his hand through Kimiko's hair. "I'm really sorry about all this… I just thought spending the night here would be a fun little experience to get started with… I never expected anything to actually happen… it was stupid… it was a stupid idea. We were so unprepared… I…"

Kimiko didn't answer. She simply sat there, shaking like a leaf in Shadow's arms, though at least it sounded like she'd managed to control her crying. Shadow sighed and cast a glance over at Chikorita, lying still on the blanket next to the pokéball that now contained Sableye. Her eyes were closed; he had no idea if she had passed out from exhaustion or of she'd simply fallen asleep. Shadow sighed, feeling even worse. Not only had he almost gotten Kimiko captured and taken to who knows where, but he also pushed his Pokémon far beyond her limits, relied on her to keep them safe. She did an unbelievably remarkable job for such a young, inexperienced Pokémon, there was no denying that, but Shadow couldn't help but feel guilty at the state of her, another result of his poor decision.

And then there was Mudkip, curled up next to Chikorita, eyes wide open. The little water-type's quick thinking was the only reason Kimiko was safe; a miracle in itself. He made a mental note to reward them both the next day, when everyone had time to recover. He pulled his arms away, meaning to go for his backpack and heal up the Pokémon, but suddenly was restrained as Kimiko threw her own arms around him, instead. She still refused to look up, however.

Shadow sighed, and held her close once again. As much as he felt that sitting still was a bad idea, he figured it was safe enough to give her another few minutes to compose herself. His guilt was only worsened, though, as he sat there helpless to comfort her; this was far from normal behavior for his girlfriend. She hated feeling vulnerable, and hated showing it even more, preferring to put on a brave face and deal with her true feelings when she was alone. Usually, she was rather good at it, too. She chalked it up to wanting to be an actress. Shadow wondered briefly what was so different about this incident to cause such an uncontrollable response in her usually flawless performance, but mentally slapped himself just a second later. Most people's daily emotional stress didn't involve getting kidnapped by a rogue ghost.

Unable to think of any way to help her, Shadow looked around to make sure there was no new trouble stirring. His heart fell again as he saw the injured shiny Beedrill lying against the same tree it was flung into earlier. Not only had he caused such pain in his Pokémon and his girlfriend, but he had allowed the forest Beedrill to come to harm to protect them. The baby Weedle looked calm, at least, if quiet. Shadow took that to mean that at least the Beedrill wasn't too badly injured. Either way, it was his fault the Pokémon was hurt now, and it was his responsibility to make sure it recovered, at the very least. Again he pulled away and attempted to stand up. Kimiko made a slight sound of protest.

"We should go," Shadow said, wanting nothing more than to continue holding her. "I need to check on the Beedrill… and I don't think we should stay in here. We should leave and try to get to the next city, or at least get outside the forest where it's safe."

Kimiko made another slight groan, but slowly retracted her arms from around him. Shadow stood up, grabbed his backpack, and made his way over to the Beedrill. Pulling out a potion, he addressed the Pokémon.

"Hey… this is going to sting a bit," he said. "But it will help you heal. It's the same stuff we used on your baby." He gestured to the baby Weedle. Weedle, upon seeing the bottle, squealed as it remembered the unpleasant burning as the substance seeped into its cuts, but the Beedrill nodded in acceptance. Shadow carefully lifted the bee's forearm stingers and sprayed them both. As expected, the bee buzzed furiously at the burning sensation, and Shadow fell backwards in his haste to back off, in case the bee decided to aim the stinger in his direction.

As it turned out, the Beedrill had no interest in attacking. As it calmed down, it managed to lift its head and look Shadow in the eye. They gazed at each other for a few seconds, before it started to buzz its wings, and managed to lift off the ground. Shadow stood back up, and the Beedrill hovered higher, to his eye level.

"Thank you," Shadow said. "You and your swarm saved us back there. But… why…?"

In response, the Beedrill hissed something before raising a stinger, and pointing it first at Shadow, then to the baby Weedle, then to itself, then back to Shadow.

"I think I understand," Kimiko said suddenly, causing Shadow to jump. Her voice was steady, though there was still an edge to it; she was still in shock. "We protected its baby from those Duskull… so it protected us in return. Now we're even."

The Beedrill nodded in agreement. Then, surprisingly, it pointed its stinger down the path.

"Yeah… we're not staying the night," Shadow said.

The Beedrill didn't seem to accept this answer. It casually collected the baby Weedle, then started to fly down the path. It stopped after a few feet, pointed a stinger at itself, then again down into the darkness.

"I don't understand…"

The Beedrill sighed, or at least, some buzzing sound equivalent of it, accompanied by a hanging of its head. It then swung a stinger towards it, as if beckoning them closer.

"It wants us to follow it?" came Kimiko's voice. It came out as a question. The Beedrill nodded in confirmation.

"Where?" Shadow asked. He immediately regretted showing that hint of dishonesty. The Beedrill buzzed angrily, jabbing its stinger sharply out towards the path.

"I don't know, but maybe we should go…" Kimiko said, her voice breaking again. "I mean… it… they did just… save us…"

"Yeah… good point," Shadow admitted.

It only took the pair a few minutes to gather up the remains of their campsite, having thrown most of it into their bags during the attack, albeit rather messily. They recalled Chikorita and Mudkip to their pokéballs for rest, picked up their now overflowing backpacks, and started off after the Beedrill. The bee turned as they approached, and hovered down the dirt path before them.

* * *

Although they were exhausted and hungry, Shadow and Kimiko followed the Beedrill for over an hour through the forest. Thankfully, though the bushes occasionally shook or there was a random cry in the darkness, no further Pokémon got in their way. Most likely, as Shadow pointed out, courtesy of the Beedrill. The buzzing of their guide sounded deafening in the otherwise quiet night. As it turned out, the Beedrill led them down a road that led straight out of the Whispering Forest.

The pair whispered hasty but sincere thanks to the Beedrill as the moonlight finally shone throughout the sky. The Beedrill buzzed something akin to a "thank you" of its own before turning and returning into the depths of the trees. As tired as they were, Kimiko had no desire to set up camp anywhere near the forest outskirts, and insisted that they continue walking. Shadow agreed, and they were off.

They had no idea how long they walked for. It was beyond three in the morning when they finally entered a small city. Thankfully, the Pokémon Center wasn't too hard to find. The only rooms left were designed for one, but the pair was too tired to argue and accepted it. Kimiko headed immediately for the bed when they entered their room. Shadow pulled out one of the blankets from his backpack, but upon spreading it out on the floor, Kimiko insisted they share the bed, claiming there was no reason they both couldn't enjoy a peaceful sleep. There was still that edge to her voice, though, and Shadow believed she was still too shaken and afraid to want to be alone. He lay down in the bed with a sigh as Kimiko moved up against the wall to make as much room as possible for him. As soon as he was in place, she wrapped her arms around him, kissed his cheek, and laid her head on his chest. Shadow put an arm loosely around her shoulders, but he didn't think she even felt him.

* * *

**A/N: What? An update? What is this nonsense?**

**Yeah, it's a miracle, eh? Hope it came out okay, took me ages of fiddling with the ending to get it to a point I found acceptable. **

**So, remember the cliche Beedrill attack thing in the last chapter? Yeah, that was intentional. This was why. After reading "Here We Go Again", a very short, unfinished parody fic by Negrek, I decided I wanted to put a twist on the old cliche. So, first, I needed a _reason_ for the Beedrill swarm to become aggressive, something better than the standard "nothing". The baby Weedle, while a simple solution, made more than enough sense for me, and, due to the circumstances of the Duskull being sent away before the swarm showed up, provided the perfect reason for them to target the unsuspecting characters. **

**Secondly, I wanted to somehow redeem the poor bees for the bad reputation they've gotten, turn them into the "good guys", per se. And though I tried to explain the reasoning in the fic, that was achieved in their successful efforts to drive off the ghosts and defend the trainers, in payment of their debt. I'm rather pleased with how that all turned out.**

**Oh, and also, I found a name for the story that I'm rather content with, so it's been changed. Just in case anyone cares.  
**

**Aaaaand... that's about all, I suppose. Probably going up update my other fic sometime in the next week also, as I have half the chapter written so far, and I had a sudden inspiration last night on how to conclude it. Soooo... yep. Peace~**


	4. That's Not My Name!

**Ch. 4 - That's Not My Name!**

The sunlight blasting in through the open curtains was the first thing Shadow saw the next morning. He groaned in disapproval and rolled over, trying to block out the harsh brightness.

"Good morning!" came a cheery female voice from the other side of the room.

"Hey you," Shadow called back. He was awake now, no point trying to pretend. He rolled over again to see his girlfriend and almost choked.

Kimiko was sitting with her back to him, instead facing a mirror that sat atop the lone end table in the room, her long, soaking wet hair over her shoulder as she brushed it. However, she was wearing nothing but the necklace he'd given her for her last birthday, and a fluffy pink towel around her waist.

"I washed my clothes while I was in the shower," Kimiko explained with a shy smile, seeing Shadow's reflection blush in the mirror. "Only problem is, they're not dry yet. Besides, it's nothing you haven't seen before…" she added as her own face reddened.

A few seconds passed, the only sound being the stroke of Kimiko's purple hairbrush pulling at her knotted golden-blonde hair. Then she spoke again: "If you're going to stare, why don't you come get a better view?"

Shadow's blush deepened in embarrassment as he realized he indeed had been staring. He quickly changed the subject.

"Uh, hey… you didn't bring any other clothes, did you?"

"Would I be sitting her naked if I did?" Kimiko replied, rolling her eyes. "The only other set I've got is the pajamas that I didn't even wear last night."

"You should think about getting some. Nevermind the fact that your… usual revealing outfit isn't exactly the best for traveling… your back is covered in bug bites."

"Oh, is that why I'm so damn itchy?" she complained, her smirk slipping into a frown.

"I would imagine so," Shadow commented. Sighing, he forced himself up and out of bed. He stretched, trying to kick-start his body, before walking over to Kimiko. She made no motion to cover herself; she simply continued trying to unknot her hair. Shadow gently placed his hands on her shoulders and began to rub them, using every ounce of self-control he had to force himself to stare at the top of her head rather than her reflection.

After only a few seconds, Kimiko stopped fiddling with her hair, closed her eyes, and leaned back in her chair, relishing every second and every motion Shadow made.

"Now I remember why I keep you around," she said after a few minutes.

"Do explain," Shadow shot back playfully.

"Your massages make me absolutely _melt_…" She allowed him to continue for another several minutes before she eventually stood up.

"Okay, that's enough," she said, untying her towel and lifting it over her chest. "No more for you until you go get clean."

"I wasn't even looking!"

"We're standing in front of a mirror."

"… Er, you're right, I think I'll go take that shower now," Shadow said hastily.

"That's what I thought," Kimiko said with a grin, rolling her eyes again as Shadow rapidly backed away, blushing furiously, and closed the bathroom door just a little too hard.

* * *

"Waiting for me?" Shadow asked as he stepped out of the bathroom, causing Kimiko to jump.

Still unclothed but toweled, Kimiko had settled herself in the bed and flipped on the television. Too occupied by her own thoughts, she didn't hear Shadow finish his shower and leave the bathroom, and she literally jumped and squealed when he spoke. Shadow couldn't hold back his laughter.

"That wasn't funny!" Kimiko said, playfully tossing a pillow at him.

"I thought so, that's what matters," Shadow shot back, catching the pillow and hurling it right back. "What's on?" he added, gesturing at the TV.

"News," Kimiko said, sounding completely uninterested. "Another trainer's disappeared. Third one this week."

"Huh. That's not so unusual," Shadow commented, sitting down on the bed next to his girlfriend. "A little high, I guess, but people go missing all the time."

"Except this chick was supposedly pretty strong. She'd placed fifth in last year's Hoenn League. The other two girls she was traveling with say they woke up this morning and she was just gone."

"Where were they?" Shadow asked.

Kimiko hesitated before answering. "Camping in the Whispering Forest… the other side of the region, though."

Neither one spoke after that, both of them remembering their less than pleasant experience of the previous night in that very forest. Shadow wished he hadn't asked, as his mind was flooded with feelings of guilt. It took a few minutes before he realized how much worse it was for Kimiko, and what she must be thinking right now. He tried to change the subject.

"So, uh, anyway… Oh, your clothes are dry. What do you say we go get dressed, have some breakfast, and head down to the gym?"

"Mmm? Oh, yeah," Kimiko mumbled, and hopped off the bed.

* * *

As it turns out, with the aid of the shiny Beedrill, the pair managed to get to their original destination, confirmed by the nurse on duty as Blossom Town, site of the first Pokémon Gym in Vidiva. The town itself had a very natural atmosphere about it. The roads were dirt rather than cement. Gardens, trees and flowers of various bright colors and sizes were everywhere. Most of the buildings had the appearance of log cabins, with the exception of a select few, including the Pokémon Center, which had to be build to certain standards in order to safely treat any Pokémon brought in (including fire-types, who might otherwise be hazardous in such a highly flammable building) and the town's Pokémon Gym, which resided inside a large greenhouse on the easternmost edge of town. This was the trainer's destination as they left the Pokémon Center about thirty minutes later.

"Well damn, I wonder what type this gym leader uses?" Kimiko said sarcastically as they approached the giant greenhouse.

"Should be fun to see how mine fares," Shadow answered, and the pair walked inside. A bell chimed as the door opened.

As expected, the air in the greenhouse was rather warm and humid. Directly ahead of them lay a huge expanse of tall grass. A female voice echoed throughout the building: "I'll be with you in a second!" Rustling grass could be heard shortly afterwards. Shadow and Kimiko stood in the doorway, waiting for the speaker to show herself. The rustling sound grew louder until finally, a young-looking brunette girl tumbled out, stumbling as her feet hit solid ground again. She let out a small squeal as she managed to regain her footing.

"Sorry about that!" she apologized as she retied her red bandana before dusting off the white apron that she wore over a forest green undershirt. She couldn't have been any older than seventeen. "I was looking for my Oddish. Anyway," she looked up as she spoke and her face quickly turned a light shade of pink. "H-hi! M-my name's Nyra. I'm the gym leader here! Are y-you two here for a battle?"

"Call me Shadow," he replied, oblivious to Nyra's blush. "I'm here for the badge, yeah."

"I'm Kimiko. I'm just the cheering section," she said, playfully nudging Shadow's shoulder.

The gym leader refused eye contact after her initial glance, instead fascinating herself on her new arrival's outfits. Then, as suddenly as it came, the extra color left the young girl's face as her gym leader instincts overrode her human emotions.

"You only have two Pokémon with you?" she asked, indicating the two lone pokéballs on Shadow's belt. Nyra's face flooded with color again as she realized where she'd been staring and immediately turned to her left. Kimiko frowned, but Shadow spared the girl further discomfort.

"Yeah, just these two. Why?"

"O-oh…" Nyra stuttered. "W-well… the rules here require at least three Pokémon to battle with…"

"Why's that?" Kimiko asked. "This is the first gym in the league, isn't it? How many new trainers have three Pokémon well-trained this soon?"

"W-well… in general, yes," Nyra replied. "That's why, actually… the champion thought it would be a good idea to have a sort-of high requirement specifically because this is the first gym most new trainers challenge. She said it would help trainers get used to training several Pokémon at once early on in their career, so that they don't end up relying on a single Pokémon throughout their travels."

"Huh… well, damn," Shadow said. "I guess I've gotta go out and catch something else."

"I'm-so-sorry!" Nyra spat out in one breath as she bowed at the two trainers in front of her.

"Don't worry about it," Shadow answered. "Rules are rules. Any idea where there's some good Pokémon around here without going too far from town?"

"Uh… well, there is supposed to be some really rare water-type Pokémon around this side of the region…"

Kimiko looked at her suspiciously. "Why would we want to catch water-type Pokémon? Don't you use grass-types?"

"W-well… yes, I do… but… the routes leading in and out of town are pretty open… you won't find very many Pokémon out there in the open. Unless you want to go southwest into the Whispering Forest-"

"Hell no," Kimiko and Shadow answered in unison.

"A water-type sounds fine," Shadow said. "I can just teach it some ice move. Besides, if the ones around here are rare, what better chance to go and get one?"

"Well, okay then," Kimiko said, shrugging. "It's your battle, not mine. Your call."

"Thanks for the tip," Shadow reached out to shake Nyra's hand. She couldn't even look at him as he gripped it. "We'll be back once I've caught something new."

* * *

"She's got a crush on you," Kimiko said bluntly as the pair headed away from the gym, down the route to the south.

"Don't tell me you're jealous," Shadow laughed. "She looks like she's underage anyway. Not my type."

"Alex!" Kimiko snapped, aiming a kick at his ankle.

"Ow! Sorry!" Shadow spat. "Seriously, what are you afraid of? Now you know how I feel every day," he taunted.

"Oh, ha ha."

"Relax," Shadow said, leaning in and kissing her. "We've been together for what, almost seven years now? You worry too much."

Kimiko blushed in embarrassment and stared at her feet as the two continued walking.

* * *

The pair reached a small lake on the outskirts of Blossom Town about fifteen minutes after leaving the gym. A couple of fishermen were already there, hard at work. It was Kimiko who asked the question on both of their minds.

"So… how exactly are we going to even find any water Pokémon?"

"Well… we could go ask to borrow someone's rod?" Shadow suggested. "One of these fishermen is bound to have a spare or two."

Kimiko sighed, but didn't argue, and followed Shadow to the edge of the lake. As he went to talk to some of the fishermen, she stood at the water's edge and looked down. The water was sparkling and clear; the lake didn't look very deep, but it also didn't look like it contained any Pokémon…

A few minutes later, Shadow returned, apparently successful in his endeavor. He carried not one, but two fishing poles with him. Kimiko gave him a curious look as he passed one to her.

"Well, it will give you something to do other than sit here and watch me… well, sit here."

"Good point, I guess… though it's you who really needs the Pokémon," she argued half-heartedly.

"Well then, having you help will make it go faster," Shadow commented with a wink before turning to select a spot to settle down.

Several minutes later, the pair had chosen a spot not far from the dirt path leading back into town. After casting their lines, there was nothing to do but wait and enjoy the warm weather and light breeze. Shadow sat patiently, staring at the spot where his line landed in the water as if that would cause some sort of reaction. Next to him, Kimiko lay on her back with her eyes closed, relishing the weather.

"I want an Espeon," Kimiko said suddenly several minutes later as the young couple waited for a bite.

"Seriously?" Shadow grimaced. "An Eevee evolution? That's not very original."

"They're adorable!" Kimiko shot back, a little hurt. "Besides, they're psychic-types. How cool would that be?"

"I guess so…" Shadow thought. "…But an Eevee evolution?" Kimiko didn't bother replying this time.

She did, however, speak up again several minutes later. "Why haven't we named our Pokémon?"

"What?" Shadow said at this sudden question.

"You know, like how people give their Pokémon nicknames, instead of just calling them by their species."

"Eh, I'm horrible at names. What's your excuse?"

"I'm horrible at names," she shot back with a grin.

"Hm…" Shadow thought. In truth, the idea of nicknaming his Pokémon had come to him several times, but he was at a loss as to what to choose, so he simply never brought the matter up aloud. "I like the idea, but I just don't know what I'd call them. I want to come up with something more original than 'Rita' for Chikorita."

Kimiko giggled. "You're right, that _is_ unoriginal."

"Well, what were you going to call Mudkip, Muddy?"

"N-no!" Kimiko shouted defensively. Her tone, though, was clearly mocking.

"Rita wouldn't fit anyway, once she evolved."

"Why not? It's a feminine name, and your Chikorita _is_ a girl, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah… I don't know." Shadow whipped out his pokédex and began to search for Chikorita's data in an effort to find some inspiration. "So seriously, what do you plan to call Mudkip?"

"I don't really know either," Kimiko admitted.

Shadow picked a pokéball from his belt and let it drop, releasing his Chikorita. She squeaked happily as she adjusted to the warm temperature, quickly laying down in between the two humans to sunbathe.

"Hey," Shadow said. "So I was thinking about giving you a nickname. What do you think about 'Spice'?" Kimiko barely stifled a giggle, but Chikorita cooed gleefully.

"Oh, very clever," Kimiko mocked.

"It's better than 'Rita'," Shadow said, shrugging. Chikorita, though, seemed to like this one even better; she nodded her head excitedly.

"Really? You'd rather be called Rita?" he said with disbelief. His Pokémon continued to nod in agreement. "Okay then… from now on, I'll just call you Rita. But make sure you're answering to that now, okay?"

Without sitting up, Kimiko reached to her backpack and pulled out a pokéball of her own, releasing her Mudkip. The tiny water-type squeaked in fear as the sunlight blinded it momentarily, but after blinking and taking in his surroundings, relaxed after realizing there was no danger. Chikorita had returned to sunbathing, and Kimiko resumed relaxing on the grass. Mudkip, possibly thinking it was some sort of game, attempted to mimic them, laying on his front and resting his head on the ground, occasionally lifting it up to glance at Chikorita to make sure he was doing it right.

Shadow laughed as he watched the three of them. He was glad that they all seemed to be recovered from last night's incident already and that so far no lasting scars were left. Well, he still wasn't too sure about Kimiko, but at least the Pokémon were easier to read. He debated releasing Sableye as well, but just as he grabbed his pokéball, a thought crossed his mind. He hadn't released the ghost-type since capturing it, and he had no way to know how it would react to their little group, especially after being separated from his own. Still, though, it would have to be done sooner or later anyway… so he dropped the pokéball.

Kimiko, Rita, and Mudkip looked up in surprise at the sound of the pokéball opening. As the white light began to take shape into Sableye, Chikorita jumped up and immediately crouched into a defensive position, and Kimiko asked, "What are you doing?"

"I've got to let him out at some point," Shadow shrugged.

Sableye turned around to face the group, barring his teeth as he saw Rita, ready to attack, and took his own battle stance. Shadow put a hand lightly on Rita's leaf. She looked up at him with a confused look.

"Easy now," Shadow said. "Relax."

Rita gave one last glare at Sableye, but did as told, though she never took her eyes off the ghost. Sableye, meanwhile, relaxed as well, though he certainly didn't look happy about being here.

"How are you feeling?" Shadow asked his new Pokémon. Sableye glanced up at him and he could have sworn that if Sableye had a nose, he would have stuck it up in disgust.

"Okay… so, I was thinking… since you're a part of the group now, how about a name?"

Sableye didn't respond at all. No sound, no movement, nothing. Shadow sighed. Before he could speak, however, three figures approached them. How he missed them coming until they were practically right next to them, he had no idea – they stood out painfully in the bright colorful day. The male had short, black hair with red streaks and red coloring at tips. His outfit consisted of a black t-shirt and black leather pants. The female, about the same height as the male, wore a long dress in a similar black, her hair also black, but it was up in two large pigtails and had dark purple streaks instead. The Pokémon walking in between the pair was similar looking to the female, with bright blue eyes and rather large red lips – a Gothorita.

Shadow cast a glance at Kimiko as if to ask her if she knew them. She shook her head before sitting up and addressing them. "Excuse me, you're blocking the sun. Can we help you?"

"Forgive us," the male said flatly. "Believe me, we don't much enjoy being here ourselves, but we have a job to do."

"And that is…?"

"Pardon my brother's rudeness," the female spoke in a similar monotone. "My name is Phobos, and this is my brother, Deimos. We run the Pokémon gym in Phantom Village, near the western coast."

Shadow and Kimiko stood up and quickly introduced themselves.

"So… what brings you two all the way out here?" Shadow asked.

"The ghost Pokémon in the Whispering Forest have been acting… unusual for the last few days," Phobos replied. "Naturally, as the owners of a ghost-type gym, it is our responsibility to find out why. They have led us here."

"Is this your Sableye?" Deimos spoke up.

"Yeah… I just caught it last night. In that forest, in fact."

"May we have a word?" Deimos specifically addressed the Sableye. The Pokémon nodded slowly and deliberately. Without another word, ignoring Shadow's protests, the newcomers and Sableye stalked off to the nearest shaded spot – underneath a tree several meters away. Shadow refused to take his eyes off them.

"What's this all about?" Kimiko asked.

"Hell if I know," Shadows answered. "But Sableye seems to know them. That's… odd."

"Is it really? They _are_ the ones who keep the ghost Pokémon in the forest under control, aren't they? Maybe Sableye's met them before."

"Maybe, but I don't trust them."

"What is that Pokémon with them?" Kimiko asked.

"A Gothorita, a psychic-type. I wonder why two ghost-type specialists would have that with them. It's just… suspicious."

"Probably to communicate with Sableye, right?" Kimiko guessed. "I doubt they can understand it, but remember how Professor Spruce said that some psychic Pokémon can communicate telepathically with humans?"

"I guess," Shadow said, defeated.

The group returned several minutes later. Sableye, unharmed, simply sat down upon arrival, his back to the trainers.

"Thanks for your time," Phobos said. "You appear to be trainers… so I'm sure we'll meet again." And with that, the siblings turned and walked off without waiting for an answer.

"That might have been the weirdest thing I've seen in a long time," Kimiko commented, lying back down in the grass.

"Yeah…" Shadow said, looking down at Sableye. The ghost Pokémon had stood up and walked over to where Rita and Mudkip lay sunbathing and extended a clawed hand without a word. Rita looked at him oddly, but hesitantly wrapped a vine around the ghost's hand and shook it. Shadow smiled.

"So, accepted the fact that you're one of us now, have you?" Sableye grunted at him. "How about that nickname?" Sableye shrugged.

Shadow pulled out his pokédex again and ran over Sableye's statistics and data. After a few moments, he spoke. "I guess since you're a male, we can rule out 'Jewel'. How about 'Diamond'?"

"Eye," the ghost answered with a stiff nod. It then turned and sat down next to Rita, who watched his every move out of the corner of her eye.

"Good lord, you really _are_ awful at this," Kimiko giggled from the grass.

Shadow sat himself down and glanced at her. "Alright, if you're so smart, what are you going to call Mudkip?"

"I was thinking either Kip or Finn."

"And you thought _I_ was bad?"

"Oh shut up!"

"According to my pokédex, that little guy can crush boulders," Shadow said, now looking up Mudkip's information.

"Let me see that," Kimiko demanded, sitting up and taking the pokédex out of his hands. She looked at it for a few seconds, and then looked at Shadow. "…How do I make it scroll down?"

"This button here," Shadow laughed as he poked the button he was indicating.

Kimiko fiddled with the pokédex for a few minutes longer before closing it.

"How about Radar?" she asked. Shadow raised an eyebrow. "…What? Mudkip's little fin on his head can pick up things like a radar. So I think it suits him."

"He's your Pokémon," Shadow answered.

"Speaking of, I think that one's yours," Kimiko pointed in front of them. A yellow starfish with a red core was silently standing there over Shadow's forgotten fishing pole, watching them.

"Wow, a Staryu!" Shadow exclaimed. "I thought they were only active at night. Nyra was right, there really _are_ rare water Pokémon around here! Go get it, Rita!"

If she were angry at her sunbathing being interrupted, Rita didn't show it as she obediently dove headfirst into battle. It only took two barrages of Razor Leaf to bring the Staryu to the ground. The creature didn't even fight back. Shadow frowned at he tossed a pokéball at it and then frowned more when the pokéball hardly resisted before closing with a ping.

"Well that was anticlimactic," he sighed. "Good job, Rita."

"Chik!" Rita exclaimed happily before returning to her sunbathing.

"So, what should I name it?" Shadow asked as he stared at the pokéball in his hand. He got no answer. Turning around, he saw Kimiko busy with a Pokémon of her own.

She had pulled her fishing line in and brought up a blue seashell. She watched as the shell opened to reveal a softer, lighter blue inside, as well as a pink pearl in the center, complete with an angry face.

"Radar, think you can battle?" Kimiko called. Her Mudkip looked at the Clamperl and squeaked worriedly, but waddled up to face it anyway. "Don't worry, you'll do fine! Go get it with a Tackle attack!"

Radar obeyed, closing his eyes as he ran in a straight line towards the Clamperl. Before he struck, however, Clamperl hurled itself forwards, and clamped down on Radar's fin. The Mudkip shrieked with pain and attempted to wiggle himself free, but Clamperl had him tight.

"Oh god, now what do I do?" Kimiko asked no one in particular.

Before she got an answer, though, the Clamperl blasted a torrent of water out of its shell, releasing its grip on Radar and blasting him away. Radar struggled to his feet, whimpering.

"Come on, Radar, you can do this! Show it a real Water Gun!"

With a deep breath, Radar planted his feet firmly and exhaled – and nothing happened. The Clamperl roared with laughter as the Mudkip began to cry. Kimiko gave him a soft encouraging smile, though, and Radar tried again. He took another deep breath. This time, the little Mudkip managed to summon a blast of water of his own. Clamperl, who had been too busy laughing at Radar, screamed in agony as it got a blast of water to the face as Radar struck its vulnerable inner shell.

"Okay, now it's my turn," Kimiko said, reaching for a pokéball in her bag. She grabbed the nearest one and hurled it at the weakened water-type. The ball bounced off the dazed Clamperl's shell and opened…

…But instead of transforming the Pokémon into red light and absorbing it, Kimiko's pokéball instead released a white light. She and Shadow stared at it in confusion as the light materialized into a rounded shape. When the light faded, the round, black shape, face and all, had become enveloped by a cloud of purple gas. The new creature stared at Kimiko, who simply stared back at it.

The two continued to stare at each other. Nothing in the area seemed to move – even the other fishermen had turned their attention to the commotion – except for Sableye, who let out a silent scowl.

"GAAAAASTLY!" the creature suddenly boomed, causing Kimiko to jump back, startled.

"Where the bloody hell did this thing come from…?"

The small group simply stared at the Gastly, no one knowing quite what to do next. Gastly solved that problem, however, as it floated up to Kimiko and nestled in her hair. She winced as the ghost caused her hair to float about with its odd ghost-type powers.

"Well… at least he's friendly," Shadow said, laughing.

"But… where did it _come_ from?" Kimiko repeated.

"The forest," Shadow said thoughtfully, a vague, forgotten memory returning to him. "You must have caught it when you dropped that pokéball."

"What are you talking about?"

"When that… Dusclops… was lifting you," Shadow started, afraid to bring back the memory of the event. Kimiko simply stared at him, showing no sign that it bothered her, so he continued. "Well, you dropped a pokéball. I remember seeing a red flash of light out of the corner of my eye but I didn't think anything of it, I was busy trying to figure out how to save you. I guess I just thought it was an attack. But maybe… maybe that flash was this Gastly getting sucked into the pokéball you dropped. Remember when you fell? We landed on top of a pokéball?"

"Oh," was all Kimiko could reply with.

"Kiiip!" came a squeal. Kimiko looked down to see Radar jumping up and down, and pointing at something. Following his little paw with her gaze, Kimiko spotted the Clamperl desperately trying to hop back towards the lake. She mentally slapped herself as she hastily scooped up another pokéball from her bag and hurled it at the fleeing seashell. This time, the Pokémon was properly sucked inside, and the ball fell to the grass. The pokéball shook for a few seconds, and then echoed the earlier ping from Shadow's pokéball.

"I thought you didn't plan to capture anything?" Shadow asked as Kimiko walked over to pick up her new Pokémon, Gastly still toying with her hair.

"I didn't," she answered. "I just didn't want you to get too far ahead of me. And now, I guess we're… still even," she added, reaching for the Gastly. It laughed happily, if not a bit creepy, as her hand went right through it. She sighed.

"Well, now I need to find names for these two also, don't I?"

* * *

**A/N: Long chapter is long.**

**So I wasn't sure if I should include the first scene or not, but I thought it was nice character building, showing a little of their relationship and all. Bit of plot showing up too. Yay. **

**I've had the characters Phobos and Deimos planned for ages, and just had nowhere to fit them in until I started this story. They're perfect for ghost-type gym leaders. Can't wait for that little arc. I hope I have decent descriptions, I'm not good at describing goths. xD  
**

**And a little surprise at the end. Wonder if anyone even noticed the capture of Gastly last chapter.**

**Also, this is why I tend not to nickname my Pokémon. I can't. **

**Anyways... next chapter is probably going to be just the gym battle, Shadow against Nyra. Not sure how long it's going to be, but I might try to shrink it a bit since this one was longer than... any other chapter I've written so far, I think.**

**That's about it, then. Happy holidays to those who celebrate anything this time of year.  
**


	5. Burning Ambitions

**Ch. 5 - Burning Ambitions**

Back in their room at the Pokémon center Shadow lay awake in bed, his mind swarmed with memories of the day's events, though one specifically continued to push the others aside. He had an odd feeling about the gym leaders Phobos and Deimos, despite Diamond's easy acceptance and Kimiko's indifference.

"They're gym leaders," she had said when Shadow voiced his concerns. "Sure, it was odd and they were creepy, but they train ghosts, what else would you expect?"

"What about the fact that they singled us out of everyone in that park?" Shadow asked.

"You were the only one with a ghost, or at least, a visible one," she replied with a shrug.

"And they appeared like right after I let him out, as if they were expecting and waiting for it," he said.

"I don't have all the answers," Kimiko said, her boredom with the subject evident in her voice. Though she agreed that the whole situation was odd, any concern Shadow expressed to her was dismissed with a shrug and, usually, a plausible excuse.

Shadow tried to push the event from his mind and focus on the other events of the day. After the odd encounter and the capture of the two water-types, the pair had struggled to find proper names for the new arrivals. Shadow settled on Koyomi for his new Staryu, simply for the reason that he read it somewhere and liked it. The rather quiet Staryu had flashed its core once at the suggestion – the only motion it made since its capture. Unable to decipher if that motion was an approval or not, Shadow decided to stick with it until the Pokémon showed some sign of dissatisfaction.

Kimiko's new Clamperl, for the time being named Ariel in the hopes of eventually evolving her into a Gorebyss, was even less cooperative. As soon as she was released, she had closed her shell and refused to emerge for the rest of the afternoon, even when offered food. Feeling a little disappointed, Kimiko then turned her attention to naming the unexpected Gastly, who unlike the other two, was a floating bundle of energy. Diamond was not amused at the other ghost's attempts to play with him, though the energy blasts of his Night Shade didn't stop Gastly from cackling manically from above. Kimiko eventually settled on the name of Fantomé for the strange spirit; according to her, the name referenced a character in a movie that was loosely based on the Phantom of the Opera, and though the ghost-type didn't show any resemblance, the name sounded similar enough to the word "phantom" for her to decide it was appropriate.

At some point during Fantomé's naming, Rita had decided she wasn't getting enough attention and thought to remedy the situation by injuring herself on a thorn from a rose she had found in a small shaded area nearby. As Shadow attempted to remove it, Rita showed excitement over both the words "rose" and "thorn", pointing to herself with her vines each time she heard one of them.

"We can't rename you every time you decide you want to change it," Shadow told her, though he couldn't help but smile at the little Pokémon's enthusiasm. "So if we change it now, that's it, you're stuck with it, okay?" Rita bounced up and down happily, like a child about to receive a piece of candy. "Well then, which do you like? Rita, Rose, or Thorn?"

The Chikorita thought for less than a full minute before jumping up and down thrice. "What is that supposed to mean?" Shadow frowned, though even as he spoke he formulated a guess. "You like Thorn?" Again, the tiny grass Pokémon bounced happily, cooing all the while. He took that as a yes, for lack of any other reasoning. "Okay, so we'll call you Thorn from now on. But that's it, okay? That's your name, and you're stuck with it." The newly christened Thorn spun around a few times before plopping down and relaxing, returning to her sunbathing. Shadow had wondered if she understood a single word he'd just said.

A sudden thump to his right broke Shadow from his trance. He turned sharply to see two large, glowing gems floating in midair, aimed in his direction.

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" he asked in a low voice.

"Eye," Diamond grunted by means of reply. The Sableye stood from where he'd fallen to the ground, kicked the item – Shadow's backpack – that he had apparently tripped over, and waddled back to the chair in the corner where he had, supposedly, been asleep next to Thorn and Radar. Shadow mentally shrugged and rolled over, threw an arm lightly around Kimiko's sleeping form, and attempted to drift away as well.

* * *

When Shadow awoke the next morning he found Kimiko curled up close, her head resting on his chest. He reached up and stroked her long, golden hair. As he did, she stirred, adjusting her position so she could see him without having to move too much.

"Finally awake," she whispered, sounding as though she'd only just woken up herself.

"Were you?" he asked.

"About an hour ago, I guess."

Shadow tilted his head to the side to see the rest of the room. Though the open door, he could see Koyomi and Ariel settled on a pile of towels in the bathroom. Not far from the door, up in a corner of the ceiling, Fantomé mercifully also remained asleep, somehow still afloat. Over in the chair, Thorn and Diamond also rested peacefully, though he saw no sign of Radar. Only then did he look back at Kimiko and notice the reason she hadn't moved when he disturbed her; the blue shape moved slightly as he breathed deeply in his sleep. After noting everyone's position, he posed a question.

"Why are you up so early?"

"Why are you?" Kimiko replied with a grin.

"Just didn't sleep well," he answered.

"Oh, well fine, you can sleep alone tonight," Kimiko whined, laying hers head back down.

"Not what I meant…"

"Yeah, I know…"

A moment of silence passed as Shadow resumed stroking his girlfriend's hair, while she seemingly fell asleep again. However, she soon spoke again.

"So, what's the plan for today?"

"Training," Shadow sighed. "Water Pokémon or not, Koyomi would need training before a gym battle anyway. Besides, Thorn and Diamond could use some also."

"Oh, true... why don't we just go find something else? You don't have to get rid of Koyomi, but sending a water Pokémon against a grass-type expert is just asking for a loss. You know better than that."

"I may… but I don't know. Three may be more than enough this early on."

"You worked with more than that back at the lab every day."

"Yeah, but not training them, just caring for them."

"You could use Fantomé if you want."

"Well thanks babe, but no. If I'm going to do this, I want to do it on my own strength."

"Your funeral," Kimiko said, and silence fell once more.

* * *

Training proved to be less difficult than Shadow anticipated. Kimiko agreed to help, first by having some practice battles in the local park with their full, relatively new teams. Shadow started off with Koyomi, hoping to coax her out of her apparent shyness and get a feel for how she fought. Kimiko sent in Radar, her logic being the same, though Radar at least showed some emotion.

Koyomi proved to be a rather capable battler, able to land attacks swiftly and accurately. Radar, meanwhile, continued to struggle performing Water Gun on command, though eventually he was able to conjure at least _some_ water with each try, occasionally succeeding in launching a full-on attack. In the end, however, Radar's inexperience led to his defeat, Koyomi having no problems executing orders; the little Mudkip just didn't really stand a chance.

Thorn faced off against Fantomé in the next battle. Just like Koyomi, Fantomé proved to be quite capable in battle, despite his rather carefree attitude. Thorn fought loyally back against her type disadvantage (Shadow being inwardly thankful that Fantomé appeared to know no poison-type attacks), until Fantomé surprised everyone by pulling off a successful Destiny Bond just before being struck by a barrage of leaves, taking both Pokémon down together.

Finally, Diamond took on Ariel. At first, neither Pokémon appeared interested in battling, though Diamond at least attacked when ordered, whereas Ariel simply remained inside her tightly closed shell. Eventually, whether it was from Kimiko's pleading or Diamond's relentless offence, Ariel emerged and began to obey orders. And then, in another surprise to the group, Ariel turned out to be the strongest teammate so far, able to land endless blows on a desperately evasive Diamond even though she was unable to move herself very well. In the final surprise of the battle, Diamond surrendered, ending the match in a draw.

Shadow spent the remainder of the day rotating his team in between hour long practice sessions to perfect their moves. To his disappointment, he discovered that Koyomi knew no ice-type attacks and really had no way to teach her any, as Ariel stubbornly retreated back into her shell as soon as her battle had concluded. Instead, Shadow altered his battle plan, focusing on Koyomi's non-water-type moves, perfecting their power and accuracy. Being the only Pokémon without a disadvantage against Nyra's grass-types, Diamond's training sessions were focused on throwing a much power into his moves as possible, the goal being to use him as the team's heavy hitter. Finally, Thorn was focused on defensive tactics. Within only a few hours, she had mastered both Leech Seed and Reflect attacks, as well as showing signs of learning how to properly perform Synthesis. Excited by the thought, Shadow spent an extra hour with Thorn trying to perfect the move, but by that time the sun had started to go down, making further progress difficult. Shadow hoped, but doubted, that she could somehow learn it before his gym battle; either that or that none of Nyra's Pokémon were able to use it.

Meanwhile, Kimiko attempted a training session of her own, but it didn't go as smoothly. Radar did his best and was finally learning to perform Water Gun on command, though still not without the occasional failure. Ariel still refused to come out of her shell, however, and Fantomé seemed more interested in practicing his moves by terrorizing the other Pokémon with them rather than on inanimate targets, usually without Kimiko's command. She eventually gave up with a sigh, withdrew Ariel and Fantomé, and fell asleep in the grass with Radar nestled in her ponytail.

The two left the park in the late evening, as the sun was almost completely hidden behind the horizon. After a quick dinner at a local sit-down diner, they retreated back to their room at the Pokémon Center to relax. Intending to put on a movie before falling asleep, they left their Pokémon with the nurse until the morning. Halfway through, Kimiko's phone rang.

"Oh, pause it, it's Lillia!" Kimiko exclaimed with excitement upon checking her phone. An old school friend of Shadow's, she and Kimiko had become almost best friends after Shadow began dating Kimiko and introduced the two to each other. She had left on her journey as soon as she was sixteen; she'd waited an extra year after her parents age restriction had come in the hopes that Shadow and Kimiko would also be able to leave, but it never happened, so she had gone on alone. Since then, she tried to keep in regular contact up until her last call, which had been several months ago.

"Oh my god!" Kimiko screamed into the phone after putting it on speakers. "It's about time! Where are you? Are you okay?!"

"_I'm fine_!" came a female voice from the other end of the line. "_I'd only just replaced my phone today! Last time I ever let Charmeleon near it again, I swear. He'd destroyed it not long after the last time I spoke with you. By accident, I think, but I just couldn't afford to get a new one until now. But anyways, I'm sorry I haven't called, but that's why. Anyways, where are you guys?! I was in the area a few days ago so I stopped by the lab and Arthur said you two had taken off finally_!"

"Yeah, we did," Shadow answered. "We're in the Pokémon Center in Blossom Town."

"_Oh, Shadow! It's great to hear your voice again; I thought I'd called Kimiko! Anyway, did you guys beat the gym there yet?! Ooh! What starters did you guys pick? How long have you been on the road, exactly? Have you caught anything else yet? Oh! You guys have to–"_

"Breathe, Lillia…" Shadow said loudly over the voice from the other end of the phone.

"_Sorry_!" Lillia exclaimed. "_Oh! You guys totally have to check out my match tonight_!"

"What match?" Kimiko asked.

"_My final round of the last tournament down in Pebble Town! They're airing it again tonight. You have to see it! And wait till you see who I crushed! An all-water team_!" Knowing Lillia trained only fire-type Pokémon, both Shadow and Kimiko were impressed. "_Oh! And wait until you see my star player in action!_" Lillia pressed on, until Kimiko interrupted her.

"Calm down, Lillia! When is this on?"

"_In like twenty minutes, on the repeat of the latest episode of '_Today's Trainers_'! Oh my god, tell me you're near a TV?_"

"Yeah, there's one in our room, calm down. We'll watch it!"

"_Sorry_!" Lillia cried again. "_I just never expected to actually be on TV, you know, nevermind being on such a top-rated show, and as the highlight of the episode! Dude, they said I have gym leader potential, do you even know how sweet that would be?!_"

"I could see it, too," Shadow said. "I don't think there's a fire-type gym in Vidiva, is there?"

"_No, but then I'll open one! Oh man, I would love to run a gym of my own, how awesome would that be, to be just like Flannery?!_" Being originally from Lavaridge Town in Hoenn, Lillia virtually idolized the gym leader there, Flannery, a girl who also trained fire-types.

"Well I don't know about you two," Kimiko said with a giggle, "but I have trouble seeing you in the gym leader role, having to settle down and sit still for a long while."

"_I can too!_" Lillia shot back. "_You just watch! I'll be the hottest gym leader in the region!_"

"Okay, smart ass, what about the fact that there are already eight gyms in Vidiva?"

"That doesn't really matter," Shadow interrupted. "Kanto has, at the very least, ten Pokémon gyms, and all of them are official. Professor Oak's grandson had collected ten badges once upon a time. I'd have to look it up though; I don't know what cities he got them in."

"_HA_!" Lillia cried, believing herself victorious. "_I could so be a legend here! Not only the first fire-type gym around, but the official ninth gym, the first official gym beyond the standard eight! And not even a water expert will be able to beat me!_"

"Maybe you should come down here yourself and prove it," Kimiko taunted. "I've got two water types ready to douse that enthusiasm."

"_Oh come on, Kimiko, don't tell me you're going to be a water specialist_!" Lillia whined, genuinely disappointed. Kimiko was quick to correct her.

"Never crossed my mind. Kinda the opposite actually, I don't want to specialize in a specific type, and if I had to it would be Ghosts. I just happened to collect two water types so far."

"_So what did you catch?! And you still haven't told me who your starters were!_"

"Well at first I had no idea… but I ended up picking a cute little Mudkip. Or, well, I guess he picked me, really. And then we were fishing and I caught a Clamperl. Oh, and also accidentally captured a Gastly…"

"_How in the hell do you accidentally capture a Pokémon?_" Lillia asked.

"Long story," Shadow cut in, hoping to avoid the subject. "I ended up starting with a chikorita that I'd been working with in the lab for a few months. You remember that egg I'd been taking care of when you last called? That was her. So far I've also got a Sableye and a Staryu."

"_Wow, you two must really hate being traditional_," Lillia said, her voice sounding amused. "_Not one of those ones you've captured are very common beginner's Pokémon_."

"Well, we're not complete beginners, after all, are we?"

Lillia laughed. "_I guess not when it comes to caring for your Pokémon, but actually training them is a whole different story, and I don't think you two know what you're getting into._"

"Oh, believe me, we know exactly what we've gotten into," Kimiko said dejectedly, rolling Ariel's pokéball in her palm.

"We'll be fine," Shadow said. "We just need some experience. And when we do, you're going down, Lillia."

"_Bring it on, Shadow!_" Lillia challenged. "_Maybe I'll wander out that way and see if you guys are still in town or maybe I'll just call and find out where you are and we can meet up one of these days, it's been way too long since we've all been together in person. Oh! And then we can all finally go travel together!_"

"But Lillia… what about all the badges you have? You'd be wasting so much time re-visiting places you've already been to while we play catch up. And after five years, I'm sure your Pokémon don't really need the beginner's training we're going to be doing."

"_I guess not_," Lillia said. "_But then I could help you guys get stronger faster! And then we can all complete in the league together!_"

"We'd love to have you along, Lillia, really," Kimiko added. "We just don't want to slow you down."

"_Since when has anyone ever been able to slow me down_?" Lillia snapped.

"Touché," Shadow laughed.

"_Oh, okay, I gotta go," Lillia shouted suddenly, sounding panicked. "Charmeleon's setting fire to someone's tent again! I'll call you tomorrow to see what's going on. Don't forget to watch my battle tonight! Bye!_" And with that, she hung up.

"She's as lively as ever," Shadow said as Kimiko shut her phone.

"I'm just relieved she's okay after all this time," Kimiko sighed, leaning back in the chair. "Anyway, there's still ten minutes until her battle is on, do you if we…?"

"Not at all. In fact, I was hoping you'd let me put it on, I'd like to see what she's been up to."

"Well then, I'll go downstairs and find us some snacks."

* * *

**A/N: Well, change of plans since my last chapter here, and I can't even remember when I uploaded that. In any case, clearly this isn't the gym battle mentioned in the last chapter's notes. Figured I'd slow the pace a little bit and build up some of the Pokémon's characters.**

**Also, yes, I changed Chikorita's nickname, mostly because I'd planned to use Thorn originally and had forgotten since I'd lost all my notes. And now I have them again, so I fixed it. \o/**

**The main characters, plus Lillia, are my three oldest OCs (in terms of creation, not age). So yeah, she'll show up at some point, not sure if it's going to be any time soon. I do already have a battle in the works that I basically daydreamed up at my job, everything but the outcome, but this is for much, much later on. It's already typed, bu it may change by the time I actually am ready to upload it. **

**Anyways, uh, yeah, not too much plot going on yet, sorry if it's a little slow. So next chapter I'll probably be throwing in a preview of Lillia's team, followed by the gym battle. Yeeeah... enjoy?**


	6. Almost Inspiration

**Ch. 6 - Almost Inspiration**

By the time Kimiko returned with some chips from the vending machine down in the Pokémon center's lobby, the episode of _Today's Trainers_ had already begun. She and Shadow settled in on the bed to watch.

"-and today we're going to recap the last round of the recent tournament held in Pebble Town," said the host of the show, a young-looking, energetic brown-haired boy in a white suit. "Why is this battle special, you ask? This particular battle is a full battle, which these days is rarely seen outside of official league matches. But that's not even what makes this interesting! No, my friends, this battle was chosen for this week's feature because of the teams that made it to the finals! One trainer, a feisty young girl who trains fire-type Pokémon. The other, a spirited young man who favors, of all things, water-type Pokémon! Now, I know what all you at home are thinking, but I assure you, this battle might not be as one-sided as you're expecting! Now, why don't we get to the battle before I spoil it for you all, shall we?"

The screen changed to show the host standing in front of the image of a battlefield, presumably the location of the battle about to be shown. "Now, as always, I'll recap the rules of this battle beforehand for you all. This battle is a fairly simple one: a full six-on-six team battle, with no time limit and no switching. However, trainers were allowed to rotate their party in between rounds, and in addition, this tournament has a special rule stating that before a battle, each trainer must show the other three of their current party. Now, due to time constraints, we won't be showing too many issued orders and of course some parts of the battle have been sped up, but rest assured that those of you watching at home will not miss any of the action! And that, my friends, is where we shall begin!"

The screen changed again from the suited man to that of the open-topped stadium of Pebble Town, now full of people seated to watch the battles of the day. It was a standard battlefield – white painted boundaries on the ground clearly identifying the border and dividing the field in equal halves as well as a large viewscreen for those in the farthest seats to get a closer look at some of the action – with the exception of extra rocks and boulders scattered all throughout, reflecting the city's namesake. There was a brief scene showing the trainers walking onto the field to shake hands; Lillia emerged from the left, wearing a light blue tank top with a slightly larger black tank top underneath and jeans, her long raven hair blowing behind her in the wind, save for a single white streak near her right eye. Walking next to her was a rather menacing-looking Houndour. Her opponent, a boy called Adam, was a very young boy, no more than age thirteen at the most, with short red hair, a simple yellow t-shirt with a red stripe across the stomach, and navy shorts. While Lillia appeared confident, Adam looked utterly terrified upon seeing the Houndour at his opponent's side rather than her meeting him alone.

After shaking hands, Adam seemed to recover some courage upon realizing that the Houndour was not about to pounce on him. As per the rules, both trainers selected a couple pokéballs and let them drop to the ground in front of them, releasing their inhabitants. Adam chose to reveal a Floatzel, a Seadra, and oddly, a Primeape. Lillia had chosen hers as well; Houndour was already out, having walked with her to the battlefield. She released a Charmeleon and a Torkoal in addition.

"I'll bet you anything that that Primeape is that kid's ace," Shadow commented.

"And I'll bet you that Houndour is the ace Lillia mentioned," Kimiko added.

Adam had won the rights to choose the order of battle with a coin toss and decided to make the first move, deciding his type advantage nullified any Pokémon choice Lillia made. The two trainers and their Pokémon returned to their respective sides of the field. Recalling Seadra and Primeape, Adam sent his Floatzel onto the battlefield to begin. Lillia considered this – Floatzel was a water-type that favored physical strength, and was also faster than any Pokémon she owned. After careful consideration, Lillia followed Adam's lead and recalled two of the Pokémon she revealed, sending in her Torkoal rather than one of her still-unknown Pokémon, hoping Torkoal's strong physical defense would be enough to counter Floatzel's powerful offense. In addition, Torkoal was naturally slow and worked well that way, effectively rendering Floatzel's amazing speed advantage moot.

The referee, a middle-aged brown haired man in the standard black and white striped uniform, waved his flags to begin the battle. It didn't last a full two minutes. Every time Floatzel came in for an attack, Torkoal either pushed it back with a powerful Flamethrower or simply took the hit and responded with a strong Lava Plume. By the time Adam had thought enough to use ranged attacks despite Floatzel's general less than satisfactory sharpness with them, Torkoal had released a massive Earthquake attack that KO'd the water-type before it could fire.

Adam simply smirked as he recalled his Pokémon and sent out a completely new one. Lillia watched curiously as Adam's Slowbro yawned; it didn't seem to even realize it was in battle. She giggled as she ordered another Earthquake, but just as Torkoal prepared to unleash the move, he was lifted into the air by a strange blue aura. Lillia scowled then; Slowbro was paying minimal attention and still managed to halt any sort of offense with its Psychic attack. She ordered a long-range Flamethrower instead, which was blocked by several large boulders, lifted into the path of the attack by Slowbro's Psychic. At Adam's order, the Slowbro then hurled said stones at Torkoal, who was buried easily. After a quick Water Gun, Torkoal was tossed aside and retreated into his shell, defeated.

The rest of the battle was clearly edited and sped up, selecting only the highlights of the next battles with some narrated commentary. Lillia sent in her Houndour next who easily took down Slowbro, who apparently relied mostly on his Psychic and other similar moves to win rather than water. Houndour was defeated swiftly by a speedy Close Combat from Adam's Primeape immediately afterwards, according to the narrator, before it could launch a single attack. The fighting-type also knocked out Lillia's Flareon with minor difficulty, though quick thinking on Flareon's part scored a Will-O-Wisp before she went down, leaving Primeape a sitting duck for Lillia's Vulpix. The episode cut to a commercial after a quick camera flash over to Lillia to show off her confident air, and then to Adam to see his distraught reaction.

"She's doing well," Shadow said, biting into another chip.

"I wonder what's with the Primeape," Kimiko replied. "It's not a water-type, and it didn't really seem too much stronger than any of his other Pokémon. If that was his ace, no wonder Lillia was so excited. She had more trouble with that than either of his water-types so far."

Several minutes later and the show returned, the host back on the screen. "Welcome back to the show!" the host exclaimed. "What an exciting back and forth match this has been, hasn't it? I bet you all can see why we were so interested in these two youngsters now, am I right? It looks like Lillia's Pokémon are completely out-speeding and overpowering Adam's as if there were no type disadvantage at all! But it's just about to get interesting. Can Adam make a comeback? Why don't we find out! Let's get back to the battle!" And with that, the previous shot of the trainers' expressions was shown, and the edited and narrated battle resumed.

Vulpix also managed to take out Adam's next Pokémon, an Octillery, by repeatedly pulling off a surprising Energy Ball the octopus just couldn't dodge. Adam turned the tables with Lillia's own strengths after that; her Vulpix was finally brought down by Adam's Seadra, who simply out-sped and overpowered the little fox. Lillia sent out her starter next, a Charmeleon who seemed to be more interested in his surroundings than his opponent. After the longest battle so far, Charmeleon managed to bring down Seadra with a powerful Dragon Rage. Unfortunately for Lillia, Adam's final Pokémon was his true ace, which turned out to be not his Primeape, but a rather bored-looking Gyarados, who dispatched of Charmeleon with a Dragon Rage of it's own.

Lillia smirked as she pulled out her final pokéball. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before hurling it very animatedly into the arena, calling out her Pokémon by name – the only one to have one on her team so far – where it opened to reveal Dante the Magmar. The Magmar calmly glared up his foe, who looked more bored than ever with his new opponent. As both Pokémon stared each other down, the show cut to commercials again.

"Where did she get a Magmar?" Kimiko said, surprised. "There's no volcano around Vidiva that I know of."

"Who knows," Shadow answered. "She's handed out quite a few surprises this battle so far. Who knew her Vulpix could use a grass-type move."

"I guess you're not the only one of us that did any special training with their team," Kimiko commented.

"Guess not," Shadow replied. "I wonder how she's going to get out of this, though. Magmar's moves are mostly fire-type, and there's not a lot it can really do against a virtually undamaged Gyarados."

Another few minutes of speculation later and the host returned to the screen again. "And we're back! I bet you all are just dying to know what happens next, am I right? Well, you'll be happy to know that we'll be showing you the full final battle, with no edits or narration! Just the pure, original, unedited footage, every exciting moment, every breath and plea of the trainers, every single attack by their Pokémon! Here's how we stand: both trainers, their best, and their final Pokémon on the field, neither of them damaged or tired in the least, ready to tear each other apart! Hang on to your seats, Pokémon fans, this one's sure to boggle your mind! Let's get to it!"

The screen changed to the previous shot of Magmar and Gyarados staring each other down. As soon as the flag was waved, Gyarados launched a Dragon Rage towards Magmar and then turned his attention to the crowd.

Lillia wanted until the attack was almost on top of her Pokémon before responding. "Fire Blast!" she ordered. Dante leapt straight up, just narrowly avoiding the blast, and let loose a barrage of flames at the Gyarados.

"Gyarados, look out!" Adam called frantically to his Pokémon, who was paying Dante no attention, possibly thinking his attack had already knocked his opponent out. The great sea dragon turned his head around just in time to catch a face-full of fire. Lillia ordered a Faint Attack as Dante fell back to the ground; her Magmar vanished in a flash of dark purple energy, reappearing out of a similar energy surge below the Gyarados's head. The dragon's eyes were still squeezed shut as the last of the fire faded; there was no time to react as Dante shot upward and rammed himself hard into the Gyarados's jaw. As the Gyarados roared, more in rage than from pain, Dante disappeared into another energy surge, reappearing safely on the ground.

"Aqua Tail, right below you!" Adam ordered. His Pokémon obeyed, randomly thrashing the ground around him with his tail, now in a semi-liquid state, however all he accomplished was cracking the arena; Dante had retreated a safe distance as soon as the order was given.

Neither Lillia nor Dante made a move as they watched Adam try to calm down the rampaging Gyarados. The younger trainer was clearly losing his nerve; he hadn't expected the battle to go this badly, and talking to his raging beast was about as effective as striking a Rhydon's horn with lightning. He decided perhaps simply declaring another strike would satisfy his Pokémon. "Hyper Beam!" he called.

"Double Team," Lillia countered, swiftly but calmly. Adam's Gyarados seemed to accept an order for destruction and launched the vibrant orange beam of energy with gusto. Again, Dante waited until the attack was almost upon him before reacting, moving so fast that he became a blur as he created two illusionary copies of himself. The Hyper Beam attack created a massive explosion as it crashed right through one of the copies and into the dirt.

The failed attack was too much for the Gyarados. Even as Adam tried to beg, Gyarados cloaked himself in blue-green dragon flames and hurled itself at Dante, his rage taking over. Lillia tensed and shot a look at her Pokémon, but Dante stood his ground, his expression as blank as ever, so she forced herself to relax. These were the kinds of situations she'd learned it was better to trust Dante, to leave her Pokémon to his own instincts. Still, though, she couldn't help but feel a bit of paranoia as the Gyarados drew nearer.

The battle ended all in a matter of seconds. Dante vanished just as the Gyarados exploded onto the scene, dragon fire erupting everywhere. Unable to control himself after the landing, the sea dragon continued to skid along the ground a short distance where he collided with the arena wall. Meanwhile, Dante reappeared atop the Gyarados' head, despite the Outrage flames still dancing around his body. With a spark in his fist, Dante jabbed hard at the Gyarados' skull, sending a surge of electricity through his body. The beast cried out, whether in rage, pain, or both, until the Magmar withdrew his fist and jumped from his perch to the arena floor. The dragon fire began to die out as the Gyarados' eyes closed and unconsciousness took him.

The referee waved his flag and declared Gyarados knocked out. The screen then changed to briefly show Lillia celebrating on her little podium before the host returned to the spotlight. "Well, wasn't that a shocker!? A tough break for the youngster Adam, who's Gyarados was just a little too overconfident. And so, the fire-type specialist defeats the water trainer! What an exciting match! Lillia and her Magmar certainly have an intriguing battle style! When we return from the break, we'll analyze these two trainers and their Pokémon, for their best moves to their not-so-great-"

The host was cut off as Kimiko turned off the TV. "Poor Adam," she said.

Shadow raised an eyebrow at her. "Not the reaction I was expecting," he said. "That Magmar of hers is a piece of work. But you're right, I guess, shame his Gyarados didn't listen."

"A thirteen-year-old with a Gyarados… that alone is pretty impressive. But you would think he would have trained it before using it in a tournament like this."

"I'm sure he did. Gyarados aren't known for their people skills. So, why did you turn that off, anyway? It wasn't over."

"You're going to bed," Kimiko said with a smile. "If Lillia can beat a whole team with a type disadvantage, it should be a cinch for you to beat Nyra with only one. And you're going to get a good night's rest so that you're ready for it."

"Someone's inspired," Shadow replied with a smile of his own.

"Maybe I should challenge her myself. I have two water-types too," Kimiko laughed. She stood up, taking Shadow's hand as he stood as well, then began gently pushing him towards the bed. "Alright, let's go, bed time. Now." Then she playfully pushed him down onto it before climbing on as well.

* * *

"Why do gyms have these ridiculous puzzles, anyway?" Kimiko complained.

She and Shadow had spent the last twenty minutes shuffling through the tall grass inside the Blossom Town Gym, searching for the leader's Pokémon. According to Nyra, all Vidiva's gyms, as with every other region, have some special quirk to them in addition to just a battle. Being (traditionally) the first gym trainers compete against, Nyra's puzzle wasn't too complicated: Her team of six was released into the tall grass, and whatever three the challenger was able to locate first was the team Nyra would use in battle. So far, the young couple hadn't discovered a single one.

"Not sure," Shadow replied in an irritated whisper. "I would guess it's just some additional test to show you that there's more to working with Pokémon than just battles, but a lot of them don't even let you use Pokémon."

"Well I think it's pointless," Kimiko continued. "All it does is waste time. We don't even know what we're looking for."

"She has an Oddish," Shadow pointed out, remembering from their last visit the reason Nyra had been in the grass herself.

"We don't even know if it's part of her main team though," Kimiko countered.

"Maybe we're going about this all wrong," Shadow said as he stopped walking, and reached for a pokéball on his belt. He tossed it to the ground in front of him, where Thorn emerged in a flash of white light. She stared confused at her surroundings for a second before glancing to her trainer.

"Can you sense any other Pokémon in the area?" he asked. Thorn closed her eyes and tried to focus, sniffing at the air, but whined in disappointment.

"Maybe Radar?" Kimiko asked, reaching for her Mudkip's pokéball.

"Not yet. I don't even know if you're allowed to be helping. Besides, I have a better idea. Thorn, cut down some of this grass."

Thorn squealed happily before firing off a Razor Leaf directly ahead of the small group. The leaves cut down quite a bit of grass, but it was so thick that they died short of reaching the end. Thorn frowned and launched another flurry.

A sharp cry caused the group to jump. Looking ahead, Shadow saw a small, round, navy blue Pokémon sitting in the dirt. The three leaves on its head appeared to have been shaved off by Thorn's attack.

"Finally," Shadow said. "There's her Oddish."

"Well, most of it," Kimiko said, half amused and half sorry for the creature. The Oddish glared at her before turning and diving back into the tall grass. Above them, on a screen that extended over where the battlefield was, an image of the Oddish appeared in one of three empty squares, signifying that it had been found.

"One down," Kimiko said. "On the bright side, at least you'll get to see what Nyra's going to be using."

"Hopefully I'll be able to actually use that to my advantage," Shadow replied. He turned his attention to Thorn and pointed to his left. "Okay, let's try Razor Leaf this way, now."

It took another ten minutes to discover any more Pokémon after Oddish. Nyra's team had apparently caught on to Shadow's strategy and began moving around rather than sit and wait, until there was only a small section of grass left. The first of Nyra's remaining Pokémon to be revealed was what looked like six pink eggs that came rolling out of the grass towards them. Following that, one last Razor Leaf revealed the rest of Nyra's team, including a healthy looking Bulbasaur, a mushroom-like Shroomish, a rather plump Grovyle, and a timid-looking Deerling.

"Okay, so now what happens?" Shadow questioned. "Do I get to pick which of the last four I want to fight?" The giant screen answered his question for him, however, as the second box lit up with the image of an Exeggcute, followed by that of the Bulbasaur.

Nyra walked towards them. "Bulbasaur was the first one detected by the camera, so he'll be the third," she said, recalling the Shroomish, Grovyle, and Deerling. "So, are you ready?" She added with a wink.

"Where'd that confidence come from?" Kimiko asked in a jealous whisper as Nyra turned and headed back to the battlefield. "She couldn't even speak clearly the last time."

Shadow didn't answer, instead taking her hand and leading her to his side of the field, recalling Thorn as he went. The battlefield was a standard size arena, complete with white painted lines indicating each side's boundaries, with the small exception that the field was sitting on grass rather than dirt.

"Okay," Nyra said. "Since this is the first gym, it won't get too complicated. So basically from here on out it's just a simple three-on-three standard battle. Switching is allowed for the challenger. Okay?"

"Right," Shadow replied. "Ready when you are."

"Oddish, go!" Nyra cheered, tossing a pokéball to the field. The little blue weed Pokémon appeared in a flash of white, still looking rather ticked off about having its leaves cut off. "Oh my, what have you done to her?" Nyra cried out, seeing her Pokémon's peril.

"Er… let's do this, Koyomi," Shadow said with uncertainty, throwing his own pokéball and releasing his new Staryu.

Nyra smirked slightly at his Pokémon choice before opening the battle. "Oddish, Acid attack!"

"Move Koyomi! Tackle it!"

Koyomi was easily faster than Oddish. The starfish waited until the blue Pokémon launched a steaming glob of yellow-orange poison towards it before diving to the side and then flying through the air like a boomerang right into the Oddish.

"Oddish, Stun Spore!" Nyra called. Her Pokémon obeyed before bothering to right itself. From what remained of her head leaves shot a cloud of fine green dust. Koyomi, however, had already shot itself back across the field.

Without missing a beat, Nyra gave another command: "Slow it down with Sweet Scent!"

"What's that?" Kimiko asked. Her answer came through example, as a pleasant smell drifted around the arena.

"Koyomi, don't breathe it in! Uh, Water Gun!"

Shadow wasn't even sure if Staryu breathed at all. He silently cursed however when Koyomi visibly relaxed and began to slump, completely forgetting to attack while caught up in a daze.

"Stun Spore again," Nyra ordered. Oddish sprang into action immediately, blowing another sparkling green dust could at her opponent. Despite Shadow's protests, Koyomi made no motion to avoid it and was completely covered in the powder. Shadow grunted; speed was Koyomi's only advantage in this battle. Without that, the starfish was more of a liability.

"Oddish, use Absorb!" Nyra cheered.

"Koyomi, avoid it!" Shadow pleased. If this hit, whatever little damage Koyomi had inflicted would be rendered moot.

His plea was answered. Koyomi just managed to cartwheel to the side as Oddish's pale green orb crashed into the grass where the water Pokémon had been seconds before.

Nyra opened her mouth to issue another command but Shadow raised his pokéball first and recalled Koyomi to safety, telling his Pokémon to heal itself as he did so, hoping her Natural Cure ability would counter the paralysis if he gave her enough time to rest before having to send her into battle again. He hesitated slightly before picking his next Pokémon. His first thought was to send in Diamond, as Thorn had a weakness to Oddish's poison-type moves. However, knowing Nyra's last was the half-psychic Exeggcute, he debated holding him in reserve. His hand hovered over Thorn's pokéball momentarily before changing his mind. He was at a serious disadvantage and needed to get on the offensive, not fall back on more defense. Now wasn't the time to start second-guessing.

"You're on, Diamond," he called, tossing the ghost's pokéball out. The Sableye hissed menacingly as he eyed his opponent.

Shadow knew from the battle in the forest his Sableye was able to use moves far beyond his experience level would suggest. He pulled out his pokédex to determine exactly what moves Diamond could use, ordering a Night Shade in the meantime. Nyra countered by ordering another Sweet Scent; however the move seemed to have no effect. Diamond shot two beams of purple energy from his eyes and blasted the Oddish into the greenhouse wall behind Nyra.

"Power Gem," Shadow commanded as Oddish struggled to walk back to her place. From the gems on his stomach and his eyes, Diamond shot several white, blue, and red blasts of light that tore through the Oddish, who collapsed with a high pitched cry.

"Good job Oddish, now return," Nyra said as Oddish was drawn back into her pokéball in a flash of red light. Nyra quickly picked a second pokéball and threw it, shouting, "Go, Bulbasaur!"

Nyra's second Pokémon emerged in a flash. She wasted no time issuing a Leech Seed. Her Bulbasaur responded obediently, a small seed emerging from the bright green bulb on his back and forcefully shooting it towards Diamond.

Shadow cursed. "Can you do Shadow Ball?" he asked his Pokémon, more of a question than an order. Diamond launched two purple beams from his eyes in response. "No, that's Night Shade," he said, wondering in the back of his mind exactly how a Pokémon knew what human name corresponded to what attack.

He didn't have time to wonder for long, however, as his attention was drawn back to the seed that had struck Diamond and proceeded to release glowing red vines of energy all around him. Bulbasaur, meanwhile, was struck by Diamond's incorrect attack anyway and topped onto his side. He didn't seem too injured however, as the vines around Diamond snaked along the ground and around his foot, feeding him energy from his opponent.

"Cut those vines, Diamond! Shadow Claw!"

"Sleep Powder!"

Try as he might, Diamond was completely held in place by the vines, unable to free a hand to cut himself free. Bulbasaur let out a triumphant cry as he released a bright green dust cloud into the air, which hovered and settled all over the dark-type. Diamond's eyes slowly grew dim and he fell unceremoniously backwards.

"Return," Shadow said, recalling his Sableye with a frown. He'd been counting on Diamond to win this battle for him, and although being put to sleep wasn't an official knockout, now he was essentially still out of commission. He hesitated only a second before gripping his next pokéball.

"Go for it, Thorn!" he shouted as his pokéball opened and his starter materialized before him.

Nyra seemed a little disappointed; Shadow guessed she had been hoping to use Leech Seed to heal her Bulbasaur again, which would be useless against another grass-type. "Vine Whip," she called out.

"Reflect!" Shadow countered.

Two vines erupted from underneath Bulbasaur's seed and flung themselves at his foe. The Chikorita was quicker to set up a defense though, and the vines smashed uselessly against the pale yellow bubble of light that had sprung up around her.

"Poisonpowder!" Nyra shouted.

"Er… Thorn, try to blow it away with your leaf!" Shadow called desperately. He had seen older Pokémon perform similar defensive tactics before but he had never practiced this and was unsure Thorn could move fast enough. He wasn't disappointed; Thorn spun the leaf on her head rapidly, though she appeared to have some slight trouble keeping it spinning steadily, but it was enough to keep Bulbasaur's purple poison cloud at bay.

"Get up close with Take Down, then try again!" Nyra ordered after a slight pause.

"Don't let it hit you, Thorn! Move then tackle it!"

Bulbasaur lowered his head, and with a cry, charged at Thorn. The Chikorita crouched in her typical defensive stance until Bulbasaur was nearly right in front of her, then leapt to her right; Bulbasaur collided with her Reflect at an awkward angle and rebounded onto his side. Thorn took her chance and lunged, ramming into her opponent's underbelly harshly. Bulbasaur cried out in pain and tumbled a few meters away.

Nyra bit her lip. "Tackle attack," she ordered unsurely.

"Razor Leaf, fast!" Shadow countered.

Before Bulbasaur had even stumbled to his feet, Thorn sent a flurry of sharp leaves at him with a flick of her leaf. The blue poison-type growled as the leaves sliced open his skin and he collapsed again.

"Return, Bulbasaur!" Nyra called, and her unconscious Pokémon was drawn back into his ball.

"Two down and one to go!" Kimiko called from behind Shadow, who just nodded in reply. That was the first time the thought had actually occurred to him: he hadn't officially lost a Pokémon yet. He was winning.

"Okay, Exeggcute, go!" Nyra shouted with notably less enthusiasm as before. Her Pokémon emerged with a determined cry nonetheless.

"Let's win it, Thorn. Razor Leaf!"

"Exeggcute, use Barrage!"

Thorn was only slightly faster, having heard her command first, and flicked some sharp leaves towards the pink eggs. The Exeggcute responded by forming tiny black specks in mid-air in front of them before sending them towards their foe. Guiding them with their limited psychic powers, Exeggcute's assault knocked down each and every one of Thorn's leaves.

"Again!" Nyra called, looking worried.

"Tackle it!" Shadow responded.

Thorn immediately charged her enemy even as the Exeggcute created more tiny bullet-like black specks and shot them at her. The attack didn't even slow Thorn, bouncing off her Reflect as though they were nothing but harmless raindrops. She rammed herself hard into the six eggs and they scattered in separate directions with a cry.

"Poisonpowder, straight upward!" Shadow called. His grass-type looked at him curiously for a minute before spinning her leaf once again and creating her own cloud of fine purple dust. She darted way before any of it could fall back down on her just as the Exeggcute was beginning to cluster up. Thorn bounded back towards her side of the field as Shadow was about to issue another order, but Nyra cut him off.

"Wait… I surrender."

Shadow looked at her questioningly, and even her own Exeggcute, once they'd gathered again, turned to her and began hopping and chanting in protest.

"There's not much you can do," she said, directing her explanation at her Exeggcute. "You can hardly harm the Chikorita, you can't do anything but Leech Seed against his Sableye, and the Staryu would be too fast for you. In the end you would just be worn out. There's no need for that." She recalled her final Pokémon with a sad smile, though the Exeggcute didn't bother trying to hide his disappointment. She then turned her attention to Shadow. "You win," she said, her face slightly red.

Thorn bounded up to her trainer happily as Nyra began to walk towards them. Shadow knelt down and picked up his Pokémon, thanking and congratulating her several times as Kimiko came up next to him and proceeded to do the same. Nyra reached into a pocket between her shirt and her apron as she approached and held out her hand, a small metallic-looking green object shaped like a rose petal in her palm.

"Well…" she began, her face redder than earlier and refusing to make eye contact. "Um, this is your badge. It's the Petal Badge," she said nervously. "I, um… that was really well planned. Congratulations."

Shadow didn't have the heart to tell her that the battle hadn't gone at all how he'd originally intended it would. Instead he took the badge and said, "Thanks Nyra, it wasn't easy. You're pretty good yourself. It's no wonder you're a gym leader." The girl looked at her feet and smiled.

"Well, um…" Nyra started. "I guess… you know where you're going now?"

"Wherever the next gym is," Kimiko answered, trying to keep the edge out of her voice.

"The closest would be in Ferrum City," Nyra replied, still not looking up. "It's just a little northwest of here; you could probably make it before nightfall if you hurried.

"Thanks," Shadow said, holding out his hand enough for the gym leader to see it. "I guess we'll get going, then. Hope we see you again some time."

Nyra squeaked slightly before she timidly gripped his hand and shook it. "I hope so too… good luck. I'll be cheering for you."

Shadow and Kimiko left the gym hand in hand, Thorn resting happily atop Shadow's head. Shadow held out his new badge in his free right hand. "Well, we've reached the first milestone," he said.

"Seven more to go," Kimiko added, squeezing his hand. "What are we waiting for?"

The two smiled at each other and took off at a run towards their next destination.

* * *

**A/N: It's official... depression is my biggest motivation. D:**

Anyways, here's an update for anyone watching this. Hopefully going to be posting more, and faster. We'll see how it goes. Um, enjoy?


	7. The Champion

**A/N: Just a quick spoiler alert for this chapter: This chapter contains ideas and references from two other pieces of fanfiction - specifically Clouded Sky by Negrek, and Pedestal by Digital Skitty. See the note at the bottom for the details. You've been warned.**

* * *

**Chapter 7 - The Champion**

"I think it's time we brought this to the attention of the champion," the flat male voice said to his accomplice across the table. The room was dark, and both parties wore cloaks, the hoods hiding their faces despite being the only two people in the small room, as if to hide their expressions from each other. This was made easier due to the fact that the only illumination came from the Litwick on the table they were seated at, carefully trying to avoid the stacks of papers around her. This, of course, was how the two humans liked it.

"The champion? Are you mad?" replied the female across from him.

"We need stronger trainers, you said so yourself. Tell me, who is stronger than the champion?"

"Yes, we need stronger trainers. But the champion? We're not ready for her yet. Besides, do we really want all that publicity?"

"This is going to get out one way or another anyway," the male said, his annoyance evident in his voice. "It can't be kept a secret forever. I think it best to bring it to the public's attention before they find out about it on their own. They might start sending in more people to investigate this way."

"We can accomplish that just by asking a researcher. Or, if you insist, present it to one of the higher ranked gym leaders. We don't need the most powerful trainer in the region for this yet." The female shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Not yet, no. But it would speed the entire process along, would it not?"

"Of course it would speed it up, but I'm not convinced that your impatience is worth bringing the champion into the equation so soon."

"Well, I am. We either need a few elite trainers or an army of average ones. If we can get the champion, no doubt even the elite four will be unable to ignore it. And I'm tired of waiting while you second-guess every action. I am sorry, sister, but we can't afford to wait any longer."

"We have as much time as we need," the female replied coldly. "But if you insist, I'm just tired of arguing about it. I just hope you know what you're doing."

* * *

The sun had not even risen yet when the Crobat returned to his trainer's home, an enormous, beautiful mansion at the heart of Araka Island. That was how he liked it, though. The large window with the awning over the top at the highest point of the building had been installed specifically for him, out of his trainer's own pocket money. Not that money was much of a concern to her. He glided through the open window effortlessly and landed on his perch, immediately flipping himself upside-down in preparation for sleep. It was only then that he noticed his trainer not in her bed far below him. Before he could right himself and take off in search, her voice echoed through the large room from somewhere outside his vision.

"Good morning, Crobat. Did you have a nice hunt?"

Crobat detached himself and opened his wings as he fell, gliding himself down to where he spotted his trainer sitting at her desk. He wondered briefly why she was alone in the dark at this time of day; she normally didn't wake for hours after he returned from his nightly hunts. From what he could tell, she wasn't working on anything either. If she had been on that big screen with the buttons in front, he would have had a harder time seeing when he came in. But he could see just fine so the machine must be off, and he knew that humans didn't have very good eyesight in the dark. She looked like she was just sitting there, her face buried in her palms. Nevertheless, he nestled himself in her crimson-red hair as he landed, and responded happily, "Cro, cro."

The girl wore nothing but a simple white t-shirt and silky light blue pajama bottoms – she had probably recently been asleep. Crobat was used to her waist-length hair being tied up somehow, usually in a tall ponytail or something similar, but at the moment it was down over the back of the chair she was sitting in, messy and sticking up in places, so he kept sliding backwards. He coughed a strand out of his mouth as he tried to lean forwards to see her chocolate brown eyes, but she still had them shielded by her hands.

"That's good," she said. Her smile was evident in her voice, but there was also obvious exhaustion and something else that Crobat couldn't place right away. As if reading his mind, the girl asked him, "You didn't see Venomoth on your way home, did you?"

Crobat was immediately in the air again, heading towards the window. "Cro," he said, now understanding the concern in her voice. This wasn't an unusual occurrence, at least not to him, but if she wanted Venomoth home, he would go find her. He made to fly out and search for her, but his trainer's voice stopped him.

"No, it's okay, Crobat. I was just curious. I'm sure she's just having a good time. She's just as tough as you, if a little more frail. I just worry about you all, especially when you're off on your own while I'm asleep. But I know you can handle yourselves. It's just… stressing."

Crobat flew back down and landed next to his trainer. It was odd, he agreed, for Venomoth to not be home before he was, but it had happened before; his trainer was just usually sleeping when they both arrived and never noticed. It was also true that he himself was home slightly earlier than he normally would be. She turned in her chair to look at him and put a hand on his head. There were those brown eyes – though most people probably wouldn't be able to see them in the dark, Crobat had no trouble making eye contact.

"Maybe I'll just go take a shower and head out somewhere for breakfast today," she said with a sigh, talking to herself. "I'm not going to be able to get back to sleep and at this time, it wouldn't be worth it. Go ahead and sleep, we don't have any scheduled battles today. I do have some publicity stunt scheduled for three though… shoot, I'm going to look like a mess… Well, I'm glad you had a good night." With one last smile, the girl stood up and stumbled through the dark to the bedroom door, fumbled for a moment trying to find the knob, opened it, and dragged herself down the hallway and out of sight. Crobat watched her until then, before returning to his perch. His trainer seemed more and more wiped out these days, though she insisted she was fine. He couldn't help wondering what was causing this disturbing change. She'd never lied to the team before…

Sure enough, when she returned from her shower and hair and makeup and still wrapped in a towel an hour later, the sun had begun to rise and illuminate the room. She spotted her Venomoth's antennae sticking out from under her bed; that was where she liked to sleep when not in her pokéball. Looking up, she could just make out Crobat's sleeping form near the ceiling as well. She smiled, relieved that her Pokémon had both returned safely, and headed back to her desk to boot up her computer.

No emails yet. She made a noise in frustration and buried her face in her hands once again. She had no idea just what she was supposed to be doing today and the League hadn't yet informed her of the details, only that she was supposed to be showing up across the region in Xioria later that day for some kind of public meet-and-greet. The thought made her uncomfortable and she shivered. Not because she wasn't used to the fame by now, but because Xioria was home to the region's psychic-type gym, and therefore, several psychic Pokémon and trainers. She knew her team was well equipped to combat them, and she certainly wasn't expecting to have to defend herself. But psychic Pokémon had made her uncomfortable long before she began training Pokémon herself, similar to how some people have an irrational fear of bugs simply for the fact that they're bugs, and that had never changed. She laughed at how silly it was whenever she thought about it.

She spent the next twenty minutes lounging in her bed, distracting herself by reading her favorite romance novel. She was just getting to the good stuff when her cell phone interrupted her. She sighed, folded the corner of the page (though by now she'd read it so many times that most pages had bent corners and were hard to tell apart) and looked to see who could be bothering her so early. She only answered the phone after seeing the name of one of the members of Vidiva's elite four on her caller ID.

"Emily? What's wrong?" she asked right away.

"_Oh! Nothing's wrong, sorry Kirsten_!" came Emily's frantic voice. "_I hope I didn't wake you up."_

"No," Kirsten replied. "I've been up for hours actually. Couldn't sleep. It's weird for you to be awake so soon though. What's up?"

"_I'll get right to it, then. I know you don't have to be here for another two hours, but the gym leaders of Phantom Village are here asking to see you. They say you told them specifically to come to you and they won't tell us what it's about. I told them you weren't here yet but they insist it's important and refuse to come back later."_

Kirsten sighed. If Phobos and Deimos were at the League headquarters this early in the morning looking for her, whatever they found out couldn't be good news. _So much for breakfast_, she thought to herself. "Yes, I told them to keep their mouths shut. I didn't expect them to come all the way out here though. Emily, they traveled across the region, would you want to be told to come back later if you were in their place? Is anyone else there yet?"

"_Vlad was up at the crack of dawn, as usual,_" Emily said bitterly. "_But other than him, no. Which is a real pain because the three of them are at each other's throats, and soon that's going to be literally at the rate they're going back and forth._"

Kirsten quickly weighed her options. She had wanted to keep this incident a secret until she could assess the situation herself, lest the public find out and the region breaks out in a panic. But what could it hurt for the rest of the elite four to know about it as well? She made her decision on the spot.

"Alright. Then I'll let you and Vlad sit in on the meeting so you both know what's going on. If Blair or Devin get there before I do, keep them there and let them know we're having a meeting. Whatever their plans are will have to wait. Tell the leaders I'm on my way."

* * *

"You came all this way just to tell me you haven't found anything?" Kirsten questioned, struggling to keep the frustration out of her voice. Dressed now in her champion's outfit that her stylist designed for her – a yellow tank top covered by a very detailed red cape, fingerless yellow gloves, form-fitting red bottoms with an almost solid gold belt, and crimson zip-up boots – she and the rest of the elite four gathered in the meeting room to listen to the Phantom gym's leaders. She sat at the head of the table; the two male elites on her right, and the two females on her left. The gym leaders sat across from them.

"Essentially, yes," Phobos replied, but before she could continue, her brother cut her off.

"We all know now that the ghosts of the Whispering Forest have been in an uproar recently," Deimos said. "But that's all. We went in to investigate, as you requested, champion. But the ghosts didn't seem to even recognize us. Neither my sister nor I could calm them down long enough to get any information out of them. Our Pokémon hardly had better luck."

"There was one Pokémon we did talk to," Phobos added. Deimos shot her a sideways glance but returned his gaze to the champion and her elites. "A couple of trainers camping in the forest captured a Sableye in there within the last week. We spoke with the Sableye; he claimed that he and his ghosts were acting in self-defense, saying the trainers had attacked some Duskull that were a part of his gang. He claimed he has no explanation for the rest of the forest ghosts' sudden aggressiveness."

"Then that leaves us back at square one," said the blonde-haired, blue-eyed male to Kirsten's immediate right. "That information doesn't help at all." He fidgeted with the navy tie around his neck in frustration and tried unsuccessfully to smooth the white tuxedo underneath.

"Unless the Sableye was lying, Devin," Kirsten replied.

"The ghosts have no reason to lie to us," Deimos interjected as the lavender-haired female to Kirsten's left started to speak.

"So," the dark-haired male next to Devin demanded, folding his arms over his black top and dark brown vest. "What do you propose as the next course of action, then?"

"Well, mister von Heist, my sister and I believe that the champion should look into this matter personally," Deimos replied with a glare.

"And what good do you think that will do?" the man called von Heist demanded, slamming his palms on the table.

"Settle down, Vlad," Kirsten said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. "He does raise a good point, though, however blunt," she added, turning to address the gym leaders. "You two are Vidiva's ghost experts. Why would I have any more luck getting the ghosts to cooperate than you two?"

"You may not," Deimos admitted. "For all the information we have, this may simply be a personal battle over territory or something internal. However, we must also take into consideration the recent disappearances."

"What disappearances?" asked the long, lavender-haired girl in a long-sleeved shirt that could only be described as tie-dye.

"Don't you watch the news, Blair?" Emily replied, pinching her nose, causing her glasses to slide down a little. She righted them and brushed her brown hair out of her blue eyes.

"No," Blair replied. "The news is boring."

"Says the girl with a shirt that looks like a rainbow vomited on it and called it fashionable," Emily said with a smirk and an eye roll. Devin giggled quietly as well though he quickly blushed and turned it into a cough.

"You're one to talk," Blair shot back, insulted. "You're wearing next to nothing!" She waved her hand over Emily's sleeveless, form-fitting lime green top that exposed her stomach and her short, dark green skirt.

"Ladies, please," Kirsten said, hanging her head. Blair huffed in defiance but stayed silent as Emily got the group back on track.

"A good dozen trainers have been reported missing in the last month," she said.

"That's nothing new," Vlad said, crossing his arms again. "Trainers go missing all the time. I have always believed ten to be too young an age to be sending children into the world where there are creatures that can bend time and space to their will." Emily nodded in agreement.

"Perhaps," Deimos said, taking control again. "However, these recent disappearances have been increasing in number, and in less of a time frame. And not all of them were mere children fresh out on their journey."

"How does this relate to the problem of the ghosts?" Kirsten asked. "It could just be a spike in kidnappings or something… worse, as Vlad suggests. They could have been killed and eaten by some wild Pokémon. Which obviously is something we'll have to deal with, of course, but the point is we don't know anything, yet."

"Of course. However, at least half of the recent missing persons had one thing in common." Deimos gave a pause as all eyes save his sister's looked to him in concern. He couldn't help but put on a grimace. "All of the reports state that they were last seen in or around the Whispering Forest."

"This, obviously, is what leads us to assume that the ghosts' erratic behavior is somehow connected," Phobos added.

"Trainers are starting to grow concerned," Deimos continued. "I have already received questions about what we plan to do about the disappearances. The authorities are clearly in no state to go looking for anyone in a forest full of hostile creatures."

"They never are, though, are they?" Vlad fumed. "They may have some Pokémon, but they're not equipped for something like this. They're trained to stop criminals, burglaries, crimes of that nature."

"Loathe as I am to agree with mister von Heist," Deimos continued. "He is right. Therefore, it falls on us, the region's trainers, to handle this crisis before it gets out of hand. And, furthermore, we can't just leave it to any old trainer and hope it gets solved."

Deimos stood up and grinned as he prepared to lay his cards on the table. "_We_ must take care of this issue. And by that, I mean all of us. Gym leaders, elites, even you, champion. After all, this way the trainers cannot say we aren't making an attempt… and after the events that took place in Sinnoh in recent years involving Nick Sayre and his followers, we believe it would be for the best not to take any chances and bring it straight to the top of the food chain, as it were."

Phobos could barely keep her face steady. _That_ was his plan to enlist the champion? She tried to recall the events that took place in Sinnoh that happened over the course of several years. There had been a powerful, champion-bound trainer named Nick Sayre who lost his brother to a wild Abomasnow. He had been enraged, and most believed rightly so, because the gym leaders and the League had turned a blind eye towards the Pokémon, who had been wildly attacking trainers long before his brother's death, and claimed that if they had taken care of the aggressive Pokémon when the reports started coming in, his brother would not have died. In a fit of rage, he brought his fight to Sinnoh's champion herself, killing half of her team in the ensuing battle.

The whole fight had been televised throughout Sinnoh, as there had been a battle for the championship just moments before. Afterwards, Sayre's rant had gathered him a legion of followers (albeit without his knowledge or consent) who rebelled, in Sayre's name, against the Sinnohian gym leaders, elite four, and champion, Cynthia, for their apparent lack of interest or ability to control their region and keep it safe. The revolt killed an unimaginable number of people on both sides, including several of Sinnoh's original gym leaders, whom had to be replaced in a contest of sorts that also ended up been sabotaged several times by Sayre's followers.

Eventually, Nick Sayre was killed during a confrontation with his former friend and slowly things calmed down, finally returning to something resembling normalcy about a year ago. During the event, pockets of similar rebellions cropped up in nearly all the other regions, though they never came close to anything more than localized incidents. Since the rebellion's end it was mostly a hushed up topic in Vidiva, as one of its own gym leaders had probably come closer to death than anywhere else. And here was Deimos, proposing that it could happen again. And as Phobos studied the faces of her colleagues, she realized that her brother seemed to have struck a nerve.

"I'm going to have to agree," Emily piped up, looking grim. "The last thing we need is some sort of fiasco like that here."

"Exactly," Phobos said, catching on. "This way, no one can accuse the gym leaders or the League of not taking action. Was it not you, champion, who made that public announcement after Sayre's assault on Cynthia, and on your own terms despite the League's opposition, declaring your promise for action in situations such as this?"

All eyes were on Kirsten, who had hers closed and her chin resting on her hands, deep in thought, remembering the drama that was brought to her own region during the entire debacle. After several minutes, she let out a deep breath, and then spoke.

"Yes, I did. Alright. I'll see what I can do. The rest of you, assure anyone who asks that we're already looking into the situation, both of them – the forest and the disappearances. In fact, Emily, why don't you go make that a public announcement as well. The people need to be warned. I'll start my investigation of the forest this evening. But first, I have a public appearance of my own. If you all will excuse me, I have a flight to catch."

* * *

"We're never going to reach Ferrum City by nightfall," Kimiko grumbled in frustration.

The duo decided to stay and have lunch at a local restaurant before leaving down, deciding if they had to camp the night, it was worth it in exchange for one proper meal. This particular diner had trained Pokémon acting as waiters, most of them psychic-types for the ease of communication. It had been over an hour ago that the pair placed their orders, however, and their Pokémon were no more patient, though at least they were behaving now.

Of course, this was after Fantomé received a fierce scolding following an incident earlier in which he scared a family by hiding under their food tray so that when they lifted it up, he emerged and wailed at them all. Kimiko was fiercely embarrassed and insisted on paying the family's bill for them, considering she scared the young children half to death and the mother into an asthma attack.

There was a sudden crash from across the building as someone dropped what sounded like a very full tray, followed by a lot of shouting. Several people got up to go investigate, but after one employee opened the kitchen doors and narrowly avoided a stray blast of fire from inside, most of them scattered and returned to their seats. A few customers ended up leaving the restaurant entirely.

It took another twenty minutes before a rather peeved looking Alakazam teleported to the pair's table and set down a large tray covered with a metallic lid in front of them. "_Your Pokémon's food is all inside as well," _the Alakazam said telepathically.

Shadow had already lifted it and recoiled from the smell. He quickly looked over the food and said, "Er, we didn't order any of this…"

"_DEAL WITH IT!" _the Alakazam shouted, his moustache flaring, before teleporting back to the kitchens.

The two humans exchanged a glance before attempting to pick out anything still edible to feed to their teams.

* * *

The thick growth of trees blocked out even the smallest rays of moonlight in the forest. Kirsten could barely make out the path even with her flashlight. She had an ominous feeling of being watched, which was not entirely unjustified. Ghost Pokémon, she knew, were all too fond of those kinds of tricks, and just because she couldn't see them doesn't mean they weren't there. That didn't excuse the lack of activity, however.

"You know, for all the gym leaders' pleading, I was expecting a bit more… I don't know, commotion," she said aloud, more to herself than her Pokémon. Her Toxicroak croaked once but otherwise didn't reply. Her Drapion didn't even acknowledge that she had spoken; he was too busy being grumpy at Toxicroak for riding on his tail, though he had agreed it was safer to have him watching their backs than to leave themselves vulnerable from behind. He just didn't expect his teammate to be so _heavy_.

"This is ridiculous," Kirsten said, stopping suddenly and pulling out a pokéball. "Come out, Venomoth." The bug emerged in a flash of white and buzzed lazily by her side.

"I know it's been a while, but do you still remember how to use Flash?" Kirsten asked.

"Veno," her Pokémon replied. Kirsten had to look away as her bug suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree star.

"Thanks for the warning," she said half angrily, half thankful her Pokémon still remembered the move. "Okay, listen up everyone. Drapion, this means you." Her three Pokémon turned to her, Drapion not looking too amused. "We're going to venture off the path from here and head directly to the heart of the forest. If we don't find anything before we get to Phantom Village, then I'm calling it a night. You two," she gestured to Drapion and Toxicroak, "keep playing lookout." She then turned around and pointed forwards, trying to ignore the sudden chill she felt. She shivered, gripped her cape, and wrapped her arms around herself. "After you, Venomoth."

* * *

"That's it," Kimiko said angrily. "When we get to Ferrum, I'm buying warmer clothes."

"You should have done that before we left Crescent," Shadow said, though he too wasn't feeling terribly comfortable. "As much as I love that outfit on you, it's really not suited for camping."

The pair left the restaurant and found a less popular fast food place before resuming their travels several hours earlier. They now were about one-third of the way to Ferrum and set up camp for the night. Shadow lit a fire and was cooking soup. He, Kimiko, Thorn, and Radar were sitting as close to the fire as they could without burning themselves, as it was a rather chilly night by now and the wind was picking up. Koyomi, Diamond, and Fantomé were in their own huddle not far away, the cold not bothering them much. Ariel was still refusing to communicate with anyone else and remained within her tightly clamped shell.

Suddenly, Thorn tensed and bolted from the group, stopping and taking up a defensive stance in front of Koyomi and the others. Radar bounded up to her and attempted to mimic her.

"What's up, Thorn?" Shadow asked. The rest of the Pokémon seemed to sense something as well. Koyomi started to shiver and Diamond took up a threatening pose on Thorn's other side. Fantomé began laughing madly. Ariel remained motionless.

And then a flash of purple and two new figures stood before them; a tall one that was possibly human, and one about a third of the former's height that was clearly a Pokémon. Diamond immediately leapt at them, his claw glowing purple. Before Shadow could call him off, the new Pokémon jumped forwards, his own claw in a similar dark aura, and punched the Sableye, throwing him onto his back. This prompted Thorn to lunge at the newcomer as well, whipping at it with her vines, though the new Pokémon didn't seem to even feel them. He glared over in her direction and readied his claw for another Sucker Punch.

"Wait, Thorn!" Shadow called, at the same time the new female voice said, "Toxicroak, stop!"

Both Pokémon immediately froze, turning to their trainers. Shadow knelt down beside Diamond, who was holding his head in his hands and looked dazed from the attack, but still conscious. He and Kimiko walked up cautiously to the new female in the area. Her Pokémon had fallen to its knees, panting heavily.

"No way," Shadow said, seeing the girl properly for the first time in the light of their fire. "You look like the champion!"

"That's because I am," the girl answered, a hint of pride in her voice. "Kirsten Hammond, at your service. I'd offer a handshake, but…" She looked down and held up her arm. It was then that Shadow noticed Kirsten was holding her right wrist at an awkward angle.

"You look terrible, no offense," Kimiko said. "Is that broken?"

"I don't think so, just sprained, but it hurts like a bitch. Don't remember how it happened. Where are we?"

"Route 502, a little less than halfway to Ferrum," Shadow replied.

"Oh, that's not so bad," Kirsten said thoughtfully, more to herself than anyone else. "Sorry to startle you guys like that. We got a little lost and saw the light from your fire here and figured we could get directions."

"What's the champion doing all the way out here?" Shadow asked.

Kirsten looked around the campsite before speaking. "You have ghosts with you," she said, gesturing to Diamond and Fantomé. It was a statement, not a question. Her eyes narrowed.

"Yes," Shadow answered, looking at her curiously.

"Where did you get them?"

"Whispering Forest."

"Really…? When?"

"Uh… a few days ago, now."

Kirsten looked at the two with wide eyes before turning to look at Diamond again. "You two didn't happen to meet the gym leaders of Phantom Village, did you?"

Shadow and Kimiko exchanged a glance. "Yes, we did," Kimiko answered.

"Small world," Kirsten stated. "They told me they had met a couple of trainers who caught a Sableye in there a few days ago. They said nothing of the Gastly, though. I trust neither has been giving you problems?"

"Not so far," Shadow answered. "Diamond – the Sableye – was a little reluctant at first, but so far he's cooperated. And the Gastly, Fantomé, has been the life of our little party."

Thorn let out a small sound of protest, but Kirsten smiled. "Well, that's good. As it happens, those two asked me to check out the forest. I'm aware of the incident you two had in there, now that I know who you are. Phobos and Deimos were unable to find any answers for the ghosts' recent violence, so they asked me to step in and investigate myself."

"They spoke to Diamond," Shadow offered.

"Just trying to get information on what's going on," Kirsten nodded. "At my request."

"So were you attacked?" Kimiko asked, gesturing to Kirsten's wrist and tattered clothes.

"You could say that," Kirsten replied. "I was walking through the forest with Toxicroak here, and my Drapion, acting as lookouts. My Venomoth was guiding us. Next thing I remember, I'm standing right in the middle of about thirty ghost Pokémon. I don't remember seeing any of them appear or anything, but from what I gather from Toxicroak, I was possessed by a Gengar and lead my Pokémon to that group. There was a battle and I guess I got attacked, but I don't remember even feeling it. Toxicroak here had the sense to get me out of the mess with Faint Attack, which I guess injured the Gengar possessing me enough to make it stop. I recalled my Drapion and my Venomoth while they duked it out since they were basically taking on the rest of the ghosts by themselves and looked like they were really struggling. Not my best idea," Kirsten sighed, as though she was torn between having to recall her Pokémon or let them fight for all their lives. She sat catching her breath for a moment before continuing.

"None of the ghosts other than that Gengar seemed to know where I'd gone after Toxicroak moved me, but I guess I gave myself away with the pokéballs. Toxicroak threw off the Gengar long enough for me to grab hold of him and have him get us out of there. We've been using Faint Attack to jump short distances for the past ten minutes or so, I would guess, looking for any sign of a city or a trainer to get our bearings. And that's how we got here."

Kirsten looked expectantly at the other two. It was Kimiko who spoke first. "Wow…" was all she could say, though.

"So, that's why your Toxicroak looks ready to pass out," Shadow commented. "And he still almost took out Diamond with one move, and took all of Thorn's attacks without so much as flinching. He must be tough."

Kirsten kneeled down next to her Pokémon and put her good hand on his head. The Pokémon actually turned away. "Don't feel bad, buddy," she said. "I think he feels guilty about not realizing the Gengar had been following us in my shadow… but really, it's okay, I didn't notice either, and neither did Drapion or Venomoth. We're all out and okay and unharmed."

"Croak," the Pokémon said, turning to look at his trainer's wrist.

"It'll be fine," she replied. "I would have been a lot worse if you didn't get us out. You saved us back there." She smiled and hugged her Pokémon, but the Toxicroak didn't appear any more relieved.

"Er," Shadow said awkwardly. "We were just making dinner, if you and your team would like to join us and recover a bit."

Kirsten detached herself from her Pokémon and studied him for a few seconds before standing and turning to the trainers. "Thank you. I don't want to intrude on your dinner, but I think I will stick around, if it's all the same to you. I don't think Toxicroak is up for any more Faint Attack traveling tonight, and Venomoth and Drapion are probably in even worse shape."

"It'd be our pleasure," Kimiko said with a smile, picking up a very confused Radar and turning back to the campsite. "We've got enough soup for you and your entire team here. And we have some medicines here if you need them." Kirsten and Shadow followed, trailed by their Pokémon, save Ariel.

"Oh, I don't know about that first one, my team is pretty gluttonous," Kirsten said with a laugh and pulled out her remaining pokéballs. The aforementioned Drapion and Venomoth had bleeding cuts and bruises all over and looked just as ready to pass out as her Toxicroak. Kirsten's Crobat and Seviper gathered around their injured teammates to make sure they were all okay while Toxicroak had struck up a conversation with Thorn. Kirsten's Tentacruel sat behind everyone, and only opened one eye to make sure his trainer was unharmed before dozing off.

"Why don't you call professor Spruce?" Shadow suggested after Kirsten treated her three injured Pokémon. The champion looked at him curiously. "He's a professor and a researcher. Maybe he can help you investigate the ghost problem."

"Hah, he's the one who got me started, you know," she said, looking into the fire. She shook her head. "Anyways, I'll let Emily know I'm okay too, but that's actually not a bad idea," she added, pulling out her cell phone. "I'm going to advise bringing a few good trainers with him though, and some Pokémon who can handle ghost-types. I don't think anyone should be entering that forest alone for the time being. …By the way, which of the professor's hopefuls should I tell him I'm currently pilfering dinner from?"

* * *

Kirsten escorted Shadow and Kimiko all the way to Ferrum the next day, with the help of a rested Toxicroak, even treating them to lunch when they arrived before departing.

"I have to get back to the League HQ and let the rest of the elite four know of my… little mishap," she said. "Emily's frantic wondering why I didn't come back last night after I called. And maybe I'll get my hand looked at after all; it doesn't seem to be getting any better… Anyway, I'll check in with professor Spruce tonight and see if he came up with anything, he and the elite team he picked out of his trainers are going to check out the forest today."

"I'll do the same," Shadow said.

"If there's anything we can do to help, give us a call," Kimiko added.

"I'll keep it in mind," Kirsten said with a smile. "You two are going to want to toughen up a bit though if you really want to help. You saw what those ghosts did to my team, and you saw firsthand how dangerous they can be. Either way, I don't think this will be the last time we meet," she added with a wink. "Good luck with your gym battle. Cyrus is pretty tough considering he's only the second in the circuit."

"Thanks," Shadow said. "I think I can take him. Good luck with the ghost problem."

"Thanks," Kirsten mimicked. "Somehow I think I got the short end of that one," she added with a laugh. She saluted to the two trainers before turning and leaving the Pokémon Center.

Kimiko insisted on going clothes shopping for a better traveling outfit, so Shadow decided to check out the city with her and train a little bit, saving the gym for tomorrow. He couldn't find any information on the gym's special ruling, but he did learn that the leader used Steel-types, which seemed to him like a valid reason for Kirsten's warning about him. After a little training and some new moves – even Koyomi and Ariel got in on the action – the pair retreated to the Pokémon Center to get dinner and a room. Shadow decided then to call the professor's lab and see if he learned anything about the ghost Pokémon.

No one answered.

* * *

**A/N: And so it begins (and no, I don't mean this long note, though... yes, that's beginning too).**

**So, I added a few references to other fanfiction in this chapter. It's kind of my way of offering a tribute to those who have inspired me in my own writing. Allow me to point them out to you.**

**The first one is in how Kirsten and Toxicroak used Faint Attack to travel short distances (and coincidentally had the added effect of being a dark-type move, thus damaging the Gengar possessing Kirsten during the first use and expelling it from her body - not part of the credit, just offering an explanation). The idea for how the move works comes from the story Clouded Sky by Negrek. This is probably the most unique Pokémon fanfiction I have ever read and I highly reccommend it if you haven't read it before.**

**The second is probably more the more obvious one, especially to anyone who has read the brilliant fanfiction called Pedestal, by Digital Skitty. This of course is the reference to Nick Sayre and what is essentially the summary of Pedestal's entire plot that Deimos uses as the key argument in his effort to make his case to Kirsten. Another fanfiction that I strongly recommend reading, Pedestal has really inspired me to get my gym leaders and minor characters more involved in the story than I probably otherwise would have. It also ties in surprisingly well with my own plot, so to that end I will probably continually reference Pedestal's plot throughout my own story - don't worry, I'll post spoiler warnings at the start of each chapter in case anyone doesn't want it to be spoiled.**

**Of course, I have gotten permission from Digital Skitty to use that particular story as a reference, especially considering how huge of a spoiler it is that I plan to be borrowing.**

**Also, just as a little bit of trivia: The angry Alakazam waiter was one of the few ideas that I decided to keep from the original version of this story that never made it to the Internet. The scene is too funny in my own mind to have left it out, though I did have to re-word it. In fact, I already have an entire (rather large) page of changes and trivia comparing this version of the story to the original. I'm debating posting it at some point, perhaps turning it into some sort of spin-offs and "side quests chapters" extension. **

**And that's about it for this chapter. I'll excuse you now so you can go read those other 'fics I told you about.**


	8. A Ghost of a Chance

**Ch. 8 - A Ghost of a Chance**

The wind whipped at her hair, face, and cape as Kirsten raced through the skies towards Crescent Town. Crobat was her only real flying-type and though he could carry her, it was extremely difficult; especially while maintaining his speed. Kirsten wanted to get there as quick as possible so she had borrowed Emily's Skarmory for the occasion. She was unaccustomed to riding the metallic bird though and found that she was extremely uncomfortable, and the bird's feathers kept slashing cuts in her legs; she adjusted her position constantly while the Skarmory kept shooting her annoyed glances. Her Crobat was still with them though he clearly wanted to move faster; the Skarmory, while still fast, was too slow for Crobat's liking.

The light of the full moon kept the skies bright even though it was well after midnight. Not that there was anything to see up in the sky; Kirsten took off late that night straight from the League HQ on Araka Island after receiving no answer to her calls at professor Spruce's lab. She had been flying over the open sea towards mainland since.

As she neared the main coastline, the lights of the city at the bottom of the cliff came into view. The small town was called Lentic, and it was home to the traditional eighth gym in the Vidiva circuit, as well as the port where qualifying trainers could be taken to Araka Isle to compete in the league. The entire city, including even the wooden boards that the homes were built on top of as well as connecting the entire city together, was visible thanks to the huge spotlights embedded in the cliffside to illuminate the city during the night. Despite the seriousness of her current mission, Kirsten couldn't help but smile at the creativity of her gym leaders.

Skarmory passed over Lentic and turned to the northwest. A few minutes later, a few more speckles of lights began to emerge on the horizon, signifying the small party's arrival at Crescent Town. Her anxiety began to surface again as they began their descent into town. How could the region's best Pokémon researcher, his assistant, _and_ a dozen skilled trainers all disappear without a trace? Kirsten hoped she was wrong and that the professor simply had forgotten to contact her upon his return from his excursion into the forest earlier that day, though she refused to allow herself to start being that optimistic and instead be realistic.

She directed Skarmory straight towards the lab and they touched down right in the front yard. Kirsten jumped from the Skarmory's back in relief, vaguely dreading the return trip – her legs were cut and bruised from the steel bird's sharp feathers. Before she turned to the lab, however, she pulled out her phone, intending to take note of the time she arrived and instead discovered a voicemail that had been left during her flight. She planned to ignore it but seeing as though the lab was dark and looked vacant, she decided she could wait another minute and listened anyway. It was from the trainer with the Sableye, the boy who called himself Shadow. It was a quick message, simply stating his concern over not hearing from the professor after his own attempts failed to make contact as well. Kirsten put away her phone, her apprehension peaking again.

She stretched her stiff body for a moment longer before recalling the Skarmory and walking towards the lab, Crobat perched atop her head. She tried the bell first; if the professor had arrived home safely, he was most likely sleeping at this point in the night. Of course, it was too much for Kirsten to honestly believe that was the case, and no one ended up answering. She tried the door. It was locked, so either the professor didn't hear the bell or he never returned. She considered picking the lock and going inside but decided to simply scout the outside instead. After asking Crobat to take a peek into the upper windows where the professor lived, Kirsten ignored the covered window next to the door and walked around the back of the building.

The yard was mostly barren; the professor must have safely recalled most of the Pokémon in his care before leaving, though a few of the more intimidating ones were left out on guard duty. As soon as Kirsten climbed the fence and leapt to the ground inside, there was a howl and a blur, and she found herself pinned to the ground with a very angry Houndoom in her face, flames licking her lips.

"Easy girl, it's me! It's Kirsten!" the champion cried, but the Pokémon seemed not to recognize her. She growled threateningly until Crobat returned seconds later and forcefully rammed the fire-type off his trainer. The Houndoom got to her feet quickly and blasted a Flamethrower at the Crobat, who avoided it effortlessly. The Houndoom let out a sharp gasp as she finally realized who she had fired upon, the light from her flames illuminating Kirsten as she tried to stand.

"That's better," Kirsten said as the Houndoom bounded up to her, her head hung in shame. She whined in what Kirsten assumed was some sort of apology. She put a hand on the dog Pokémon's head. "It's okay, you didn't recognize me in the dark," she said, though she was certain that Houndoom could see in the dark just fine. She also vaguely wondered if Houndoom could recognize her voice, and assumed she probably could – or should. "Have you seen the professor since this morning?"

The Houndoom looked up at her and barked fiercely, looking towards the back door of the lab. Kirsten took that as a no. As if to answer her, the Houndoom bolted away from them, returning seconds later with a dead, bloody Pidgeotto in her mouth. Kirsten made a mental note to remind herself to find someone to look after the lab and the Pokémon if the professor wasn't actually there, which the Houndoom had essentially just confirmed. Professor Spruce fed all the Pokémon in his care so they wouldn't have to kill others for food. But Houndoom had killed a Pidgeotto and started eating it. She had been hungry, and so she found food.

Kirsten's heart sank. She patted the Houndoom's head once again and after confirming with Crobat that he couldn't see anyone upstairs, walked to the back door, which also turned out to be locked. With a sigh, she retrieved her cell phone again. It only took one ring before her call was answered.

"Emily, we've got a bigger problem on our hands than we thought."

* * *

Shadow woke the next morning to a voicemail and nearly dropped his cell in his attempt to play the message. He slept poorly the previous night, waking up several times in distress. He hadn't heard from professor Spruce at all and it filled him with guilt. Though he hoped the professor was okay, it would be his fault if something did happen to him in that forest; he was the one who suggested calling him and Luke in to investigate. Not only that, but his call to Kirsten last night had also gone unanswered. It took a great deal of coaxing for Kimiko to convince him to relax and sleep after that, though he ended up doing very little of either anyway despite his girlfriend's efforts.

As it turned out, the voicemail was from Kirsten, not the professor. The message was short, apologizing for not responding the night before and that she had been traveling. She had also not heard from the professor but she was planning another trip into the forest herself with another group of trainers. Shadow could hear her calm voice crack as she mumbled a hasty goodbye.

His motion to return his phone to the nightstand beside the bed roused Kimiko from her sleep and she clung to him, smiling until she noticed the grimace on his face. "What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing," Shadow replied. Kimiko made to object to the obvious lie, but Shadow explained; "That's the problem. I just got a message from Kirsten. She never got through to professor Spruce last night either. She just said she's taking a team of trainers into the forest herself and that was it."

"He'll be fine," Kimiko whispered, putting a hand on Shadow's cheek and kissing him. "She's the best in the region; she knows what she's doing. She'll find him."

Shadow made to argue about how the ghosts practically tore half her team apart, but his will was drained so he simply turned away, staring at the opposite wall, eyes unfocused. Kimiko frowned, laying her head down on his chest with a sigh and stroking his arm with the back of her index finger.

They remained like that for several minutes before Shadow tensed underneath her. Before she could ask what was wrong, he asked, "Where's Fantomé?"

Kimiko lifted herself up just in time to see Diamond shrug before turning his attention back to the carpet, seemingly fascinated by a loose thread that he pulled at until it was torn off completely. Thorn, Radar, Koyomi and Ariel appeared to all still be asleep; the former three huddled together on the small bathmat in the opposite room with the Clamperl alone behind them. The Gastly was nowhere in sight.

"Oh hell," Kimiko groaned as she carefully scrambled out of the bed to go get dressed.

* * *

Just as Shadow and Kimiko were emerging from the stairwell into the Center's main lobby, a loud scream echoed through the open window. Kimiko groaned as she sprinted for the door, Shadow calmly following. She had a bad feeling she had just found her missing Pokémon.

Sure enough, there was Fantomé outside in the morning sun. He had a teenage boy cowering behind a tree while he happily cackled from above. The Gastly was laughing so hard that he was in tears, and while it was probably for a completely different reason, so was the red-haired boy.

"Fantomé!" Kimiko shouted. "Get over here!" The Gastly turned at the sound of her voice, bellowed a happy wail, and shot towards her. He circled her head with glee, completely unaware he was being scolded. "You don't _do_ that! Look, I don't know what your life was like before, but things have changed! You can't just go off scaring the daylights out of other trainers! And more importantly, you _do not_ leave the room without my permission! You had me worried sick! Do you understand?"

"Gaaaaaas!" the ghost bellowed, still cackling, before taking off again.

"Fantomé! _Come back here_!" Kimiko demanded. She stomped her foot and pointed at the ground at her feet. The ghost-type finally stopped giggling and floated to his trainer curiously. He tilted his body in confusion, having no real head to do the action with.

"Yes, you're in trouble," Kimiko sighed.

"Keep that thing in a pokéball if you're too incompetent to control it!"

Kimiko looked up, her attention diverted to Fantomé's former victim. The blue-eyed teenager had emerged from behind his tree, wearing nothing but a pair of black shorts and a pair of white sneakers. He looked to be around fourteen. He marched right up to the other two trainers and although he barely came up to Kimiko's chest, he still gave her a daunting glare.

"I'd apologize for his behavior if I thought you deserved it," Kimiko shot at him. "If you're such a _competent_ trainer, why didn't you just fight him off instead of cowering like a cornered Poochyena?"

"That was as arrogant as his comment," Shadow said, but he was ignored.

"Because I-I… He caught me by surprise, that's all!" the boy stammered. "Any of my Pokémon could have beaten him if he didn't startle me on my way back from my morning jog!"

"Well, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again," Kimiko replied, turning back to Fantomé, who was grinning with bemusement at the humans' exchange. She beckoned to her Gastly and made to return back to the center but the boy called out to her.

"No, wait! That was a challenge!" he shouted. "Get back here and face me in battle!"

Kimiko stopped and looked back over her shoulder at him. Fantomé, who had been following her, floated right through her head and she winced at the strange sensation. "I'm not a trainer," she said hesitantly. Shadow raised an eyebrow.

The boy snorted. "Then what are you doing at a Pokémon center, with an obviously disobedient Pokémon in your possession? Or is it yours?" He pointed at Shadow, who until then had been standing idly by with his arms crossed, watching with quiet amusement.

"Nope, he's not mine," he answered.

"I just…" Kimiko trailed off. "It's not a law that he has to be trained to be in a Pokémon Center…" she countered weakly.

"Look, if you're not keeping that Pokémon as a pet, then you're a trainer and I demand a battle!"

"She said no," Shadow said, but Kimiko turned around fully to face the nameless boy.

"Alright, fine. Let's just do it. Fantomé, over here." Her Gastly wailed in glee once more before floating around in front of his trainer, once again through her head, causing her to shiver.

"That's more like it," the boy stated, pulling a pokéball of his own from his pocket and tossing it to the field. "Go, Bill!" The pokéball opened to reveal a small red and yellow Pokémon. The creature blew out a tiny fireball upon emerging, squinting in the morning sunlight. "Alright, Bill, let's show these two how a real trainer fights!"

"A Magby…? Oh my god!" Kimiko cried, looking around. "Damnit! Shadow, I need your phone, I left my bag in the room!"

"What? Why?" Shadow asked, startled, as he pulled his phone from his pocket and handed it over.

"What are you doing?" the nameless boy demanded. "We're about to battle here!"

"Mag, magby!" his Pokémon echoed.

Kimiko turned to him in frustration. "Just hold on a minute, I'm going to– You! Oh thank god you're all right! You were supposed to call back two days ago to meet up or whatever!"

"Who is that?" Shadow whispered.

"It's Lillia," Kimiko answered, before speaking into the phone again. "No, it's okay, I'd obviously forgotten too, just don't forget again. With all these disappearances lately, I had just thought of you and it scared me half to death! I don't want you to–"

She was cut off by a small explosion to her left. She looked over to see the boy's Magby dancing around the remains of a Night Shade attack that Fantomé had blocked some fire attack with. "_I said wait_!" Kimiko shouted in anger before returning to her conversation. "I know you can, Lillia, but I still worry about you all alone out there. We both do. Just be careful, okay? Professor Spruce… well, I'll tell you about that later. Just don't do anything reckless."

"Come on, already!" the red-headed boy sighed. "This is boring. Bill, Ember again!"

The fire Pokémon eagerly obeyed, launching several small flames from his mouth. Fantomé responded by floating out of the way of the fire, cackling with glee all the while. He then shot another Night Shade at the little Magby, who leapt to the side and out of the way.

"I can't do this right now!" Kimiko cried. "I'll talk to you later," she said into the phone before shoving it back at Shadow. She turned her attention to the battle, ignoring the conversation Shadow had started with Lillia. "Fantomé, do that again!"

The Gastly, still laughing, shot another twin purple energy blasts at the Magby. He easily avoided them once again, a wide grin on his face.

"There we go," said the boy. "Bill, Faint Attack!"

"Um…" was all Kimiko got out before Bill the Magby vanished in a puff of purple energy. A second puff formed simultaneously directly behind and above Fantomé. Bill shot out of it, his body now glowing with Dark energy, and rammed the ghost-type to the ground. Fantomé laughed again as he recovered, more amused than harmed.

"Try Hypnosis!" Kimiko ordered.

"Smokescreen," countered the boy.

Magby obeyed and let loose a steady, thick smoke from his mouth that began to conceal him. Fantomé, however, did nothing but continue laughing. Kimiko tried to scold her Pokémon and ordered the attack again but the ghost simply turned, floated up to her and nestled in her hair, laughing even harder than before as he began raising locks of her hair and tying them in knots.

The red-headed teen looked on awkwardly for a minute before opening his mouth to call out an attack. Then he hesitated, realizing it unsafe to attack his opponent while it was so near his trainer. He sighed. "What is this? Your Gastly has the attention span of a Skitty."

Kimiko's cheeks flooded with color. "I just caught him, for heaven's sake! He's only battled once! _Fantomé_! You _need_ to listen to me! Go back over there and battle!"

Finally, Fantomé stopped giggling and looked down curiously. He caught his trainer's eyes giving him as stern a glare as she could with him just barely in her sight. The Gastly bellowed his name in glee and shot off from his resting place, looped around the area once, returned to his trainer and licked the side of her face. The boy burst into laughter as Kimiko recoiled from the unpleasant sensation that swept through her entire body. With that done, Fantomé finally floated back to face the thinning smoke cloud that. Bill the Magby was already visible, though still partially obscured by the remaining smoke.

"Ahaha! Oh man! That… was priceless!" the teen gasped out between laughs. "Okay Bill… let's… finish with… Ember!"

Bill glanced backwards at his trainer briefly with a confused expression, wondering just why he was imitating the Gastly, but turned back with a shrug and launched another barrage of fireballs at the ghost. Without an order, Fantomé became shrouded in a bright purple aura. The Ember exploded on contact with Fantomé's gaseous body, causing another smoke cloud, though this one died out quickly. Fantomé lay on the ground, knocked out.

"All right!" the boy cheered.

And then his Magby erupted in a similar aura, like violet flames burning all around his tiny body. Bill screamed in pain and collapsed on the ground, his energy spent. After a few seconds, the purple flames died out as well, leaving nothing but a fainted Magby in their wake.

"Wh-what was that? What did you do to my Pokémon?" the teen gasped and kneeled down to pick up and check on his fire-type.

"That was Destiny Bond," Shadow said, now off the phone and watching the 'battle'. "Fantomé let himself be taken down so he could bring down Bill, too."

"Then it's a draw," Kimiko said, hiding her face in her hands, ghostly saliva still clinging to her cheek.

"But… but she didn't order that! That battle doesn't count! It doesn't count!" the boy cried before his face softened and his voice became that of a whisper. "Is Bill going to be okay…?"

"He's just fainted," Shadow answered. "He'll be fine. He just needs a rest. Bring him to the nurse inside," he added, pointing a thumb to the Pokémon center behind the group. The boy stood up and carried his Magby passed the two trainers, muttering a brief thanks. He then stopped and turned to Kimiko, who still had her back to him and her face hidden. "This isn't over. We're going to have a rematch. But… you should have your Gastly healed too. And he needs training. We had him beat and you know it. If he didn't act on his own–"

"Shut up already," Kimiko replied, defeated. "I know."

"Come on," the boy said. Shadow walked up and put a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. She glanced up at him for a moment, then turned her head to watch the boy behind them. He hadn't moved. With a sigh, Kimiko returned Fantomé to his pokéball and followed the boy into the Pokémon center.

* * *

"Are you okay?"

"I will be."

Shadow sat down on the bed back in their room and looked down at Kimiko, who had her back to him as she lay on the bed facing the wall. She rolled over and looked up at him, offering a small smile.

"Want to talk?" Shadow asked.

"What about?" Kimiko replied.

Shadow stared at her for a moment, debating what to say. She frowned at his hesitation, but remained silent until he started speaking again. "Okay, well… for starters… why did you tell Wyatt that you weren't a trainer?"

Kimiko continued to state at him, her face slowly turning pink. "Because I'm not much of one, am I?" she said after a few seconds. Shadow tilted his head in response. "I mean… I'm not challenging gyms, so I'm not really a trainer, right?"

"Yes you are," Shadow said. "You're still raising a team of Pokémon, so you're still a trainer. You don't have to be challenging gyms to do that. There are other paths you could take. You could be a breeder, or a ranger, or just a trainer who doesn't collect badges. There's no real rule about what's considered a trainer when it comes down to it. But I did want to ask you about that, actually, too… I thought you were going to be taking on gyms with me. When did that change?"

"I don't really know," Kimiko answered. "I just… I don't need the pressure. I want to train at my own pace, and clearly that was a good idea… but anyway, I don't want to rush or force it, you know?"

"So then… I have a stupid question. Why are you coming along with me? I do want to take on the league, and I thought you were going to be there with me."

"Because I _do_ want to be with you," she replied, looking hurt. "I just… I mean, I want to be by your side. That's how we've always planned it to be and I want to keep it that way. I just don't think I'm ready for the pressure of the real training it takes to fight in the league yet. But I still want to be there when you do it."

"I knew that, love," Shadow said, putting a hand over hers. "I knew we were going to go together, but what I meant was, why you weren't joining the league with me. I didn't mean to imply that I didn't know you wanted to be with me or anything."

"Better not," Kimiko said, finally smiling. "You're stuck with me. For a long, long time."

"That goes double for you," Shadow replied. "So what else, then? I know you're traveling for more than just to stay with me."

Kimiko sighed, her smile vanishing. "I'm not lying!" she cried.

"I never said you were."

"So damn annoying… I can't hide anything from you, can I?" she groaned. Shadow's smile only widened, and she rolled her eyes. "Okay, well… I know it's silly and pretty much really unlikely, but… I'm kinda hoping to find some clues about… whatever happened to my dad."

"Oh," Shadow said. He squeezed her hand. "It's not silly –"

"But it is unlikely," Kimiko interrupted. "I don't know where to start or what I'm looking for. Chances are I won't find anything even closely related. But… hey, I can dream, can't I? I'm out here anyway, might as well see what information I can find."

"It couldn't hurt," Shadow added. "I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually, don't you worry."

Kimiko smiled at him as she sat up and leaned in to kiss him. They stayed there for a minute before she broke it off. "What say you we get some breakfast? And before you get any ideas," she added, throwing the covers off her body, "I mean food."

* * *

"Wait, _you're_ going to challenge the gym? I gotta see this."

The red-headed teen from earlier that morning smirked as he followed Shadow and Kimiko back into the Ferrum gym through the sliding glass doors that he had just left the building through. The entire skyscraper seemed to be made of nothing but glass and thick iron beams one would find at a construction site.

"I don't suppose you can tell me anything about the gym's rules?" Shadow asked as they walked down a long hallway towards the single bolted door at the far end.

"Legally, there's no rule that says I can't. Trainers exchange information at the Pokémon center all the time. But I want to see how you handle this," Wyatt replied.

"How did you lose, then?" Shadow shot back, smirking himself. "I know steel-types are weak to fire-types, and your Magby should have been battle-ready by now. Fantomé didn't beat him up _that_ badly."

"Wha…? That's not my fault! I couldn't tell Bill – I mean… Nice try. I'm not saying anything. You'll see for yourself."

The bolted door opened automatically as the three approached it. The room inside was dark, lit by candles along the walls. Shadow looked around and could see the battle arena boundaries painted on the standard floor and a raised trainer's box on each side but saw no one inside. "Uh, hello?" he called.

Wyatt began to laugh. "The registration desk is across the room. The leader was able to see me right away though so I don't think he was expecting a busy day."

"You couldn't have said something sooner?" Kimiko growled.

"Of course I could have. But this is your boyfriend's fight, I'm just a spectator."

Kimiko rolled her eyes and followed Shadow across the room towards the registration room. Before they even got there, the lights in the arena suddenly activated, blinding the trio momentarily.

"Hey over there!" a loud male voice echoed through the arena. "Welcome to the Ferrum gym!" The speaker was a man already in the far trainer's box across the room. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties, his light, sandy hair sticking up all over. He wore a neon pink sleeveless vest over a bright red button up shirt and vibrant neon green pants, making Shadow wonder how he missed the man standing there earlier, even in the dark. "If you're here for a battle, don't bother with the registration, you're the only one in line," the man continued. "So step right up to the box over there and let's get started!"

Shadow shrugged and headed for the box on his side of the arena. Kimiko wished him luck before following Wyatt to the seats on the far wall opposite the entrance. The man continued talking once Shadow was in his place in the box. His voice came out of a speaker set up along the guardrail of the box, though it also continued to echo loudly through the whole room and Shadow doubted the speaker was really necessary.

"Well, my name is Cyrus, and I'm the leader around here. Who might you be?"

"Call me Shadow," he answered loudly.

"No need to shout, young man. Talk into the speaker and I can hear you just fine. Now then, are you ready to get started?"

"Aren't you going to explain the rules first?"

"After we choose a Pokémon, yes, I'll inform you of our rules."

"That's a little unfair," Kimiko called from the sidelines.

"My gym, my rules, miss. Besides, you'll see soon enough that it won't really give me an advantage anyway. Though if it makes you feel better, I can tell you that we'll only use two Pokémon for this battle, okay?"

"Sounds good," Shadow answered, picking a pokéball off his belt and tossing it out. At the same time, Cyrus threw a blue great ball onto his side of the field, revealing a massive Steelix that dwarfed Koyomi tenfold, and then some.

"Alright, so here's the deal," Cyrus said, pulling a small object out of a pocket and holding it up, though it was too small to see at a distance. "Today you'll be battling for this here Chrome Badge. As I stated, we'll use two Pokémon each. However, the goal of this gym is to learn that you aren't always in control during battle. You need to learn to trust in your Pokémon. And as such, you are not to give your Pokémon any instructions, nor will I. They will act completely on their own. Whoever defeats the other side's team first is the winner. Understood?"

Shadow cursed under his breath as he nodded. With this new information, he realized what Kirsten's warning had meant, and she hadn't been talking about his steel-types.

* * *

**A/N: Well, as I've said once before, depression is what motivates me, so that means it's time to update!**

**Yes, this chapter title is a reference to that ridiculous season one episode of Yu-Gi-Oh!.**

**Little bit of a preview of one of the later cities that I couldn't resist throwing in there. I actually got the inspiration for Lentic Town from Oceanspiral's "Master's Degree", in which she described Kanto's route 12 beautifully, and I decided I wanted to base a town around it. ...Then of course, Humilau City had to be revealed, but I still liked how it sounded, and also the concept of a city at the bottom of a cliff, so I left it.**

**So I addressed some minor details in this chapter that had been pointed out to me weeks ago that I never covered due to my lack of updates, the small one being that I'd forgotten that I intended to have another scene with Lillia in the chapter after her introduction, and the other being Kimiko's reason for traveling.**

**Anyways, my beta is currently unavailable so this chapter hasn't been gone through, but I've checked it out enough to where I feel comfortable with it so I'm posting it anyways. I really hate modifying a chapter after it's been uploaded but it's either that, find a new beta, or wait another several months for an upload, and I figure if I get this one out I can at least get started on the next one at my leasure, so if it needs editing afterwards, I'll accept it this one time.**

**And that's about it. I need to learn to write shorter notes. Anyway, next chapter will be the second gym battle, whenever I get around to that. Not sure if I'm going to include anything else, depends on how long the battle turns out to be. This is Seren, signing off~  
**


	9. Act Natural

**Ch. 9 - Act Natural**

"Wait… so I can't give my Pokémon _any_ instructions at all?" Shadow asked.

"That's right," Cyrus replied. "As I said, the goal here is to help develop trust. In addition, this type of battling is a good way to determine your Pokémon's preferred battle style."

"What does that mean?" Wyatt shouted from his seat.

Cyrus smiled. "Well, just as some people might prefer certain tactics, some Pokémon do too. During your battle, Wyatt, your magby demonstrated his proficiency for offensive moves and head-on attacking. However, he had very little experience defending himself from incoming attacks. Essentially, your magby prefers to rush in without caring about taking damage, as long as he can deal it too."

"That's pretty much how our battle went," Kimiko added. "The only time you guys used a defensive move was when we tried to put magby to sleep."

"Yeah, well, Bill and I make a great team," Wyatt said proudly.

"Anyway," Cyrus continued, "letting your Pokémon battle on their own a few times will help you as a trainer figure out what style suits your Pokémon best. That way you can try to adapt the way you train to work better with your Pokémon, rather than forcing them to endure your own style, which they may find difficult to adapt to."

"Wait, what?" said Wyatt.

Kimiko sighed and glared at him. "What he's saying is, if you caught something like… I don't know. A slowpoke. Most slowpoke aren't going to be able to adapt to your offensive strategy well. They're slow Pokémon, they're more defensive. Chances are a slowpoke will prefer a more defensive style. So it's your job to learn to battle together with Slowpoke's defensive style, rather than making slowpoke learn how to move fast and furious. That way you two will be a more effective team. Get it?"

"I don't want to catch a slowpoke," Wyatt said, confused.

"That's not the point! Kimiko shouted.

"Okay, Wyatt," Cyrus cut in. "Replace the slowpoke in her example with a gyarados. Gyarados are fairly well known for their aggressive behavior. Well, what if you caught a gyarados who preferred a more defensive style? You wouldn't know that unless you let it battle on its own. Maybe this gyarados is just timid. Don't laugh, it's entirely possible. You can't force a timid Pokémon, even a gyarados, to battle like every other aggressive member of the species. Certain Pokémon may have reputations, but that doesn't mean every individual of that species falls into that category."

"Oh. I can't imagine a timid gyarados," Wyatt said. "But I think I get what you mean now," he added before anyone could groan in frustration.

"Good. Now then, Shadow, was it? Does your Staryu have a name?"

"She's Koyomi," he replied.

"Very well, then. Koyomi," Cyrus looked down to address the Staryu on the ground near Shadow's box. "Are you ready to begin?"

Cyrus's Steelix slithered to the center of his side of the battlefield. Koyomi hesitated a minute, twisting her body around in a vague gesture of looking to her trainer. Shadow smiled down at her, and she turned back and floated to her side's center field.

"Excellent. Steelix, Koyomi, begin!"

Steelix sprang into action immediately, diving at Koyomi. The Staryu leapt up to avoid the massive Steelix and landed on his body as he passed underneath her. Steelix slid along the ground for a moment, with Koyomi desperately trying to keep from falling off the side. Steelix then righted himself, head in the air, and Koyomi went tumbling down the snake's back. When she reached his tail, Steelix flicked it upwards, tossing Koyomi into the air, then swat her into a wall.

Shadow gripped his box's railing tightly. The battle had just begun and already Koyomi had taken a serious hit. The Staryu managed to stand and fire a stream of water at the steel-type's face, but he simply ducked under it. He then lashed out with his tail and grabbed Koyomi, squeezing her tight in a Bind attack.

Cyrus crossed his arms and smiled, until Koyomi managed to start spinning, sending small chunks of the steelix's body flying until she was able to slip away from his grasp. Before she could move off the huge snake though, Steelix again flicked her into the air with his tail and then brought it down on top of her, crushing her to the ground.

When Steelix lifted his tail, Koyomi's center gem was flashing. It was also broken, the sound of it shattering lost behind the thunderous crash of the steelix's attack. Kimiko gasped loudly from her seat and Shadow called out to his Pokémon in a panic. Koyomi flopped one of her arms, which Shadow considered to be a good sign; at least she was alive. Even Wyatt looked concerned. Cyrus frowned.

"Steelix, halt."

His steelix, who had been hovering over his opponent debating whether or not another attack was necessary, immediately backed off and returned to his trainer's side. Cyrus continued staring down at the starfish, only breaking his gaze to tell Shadow to stop when he made to recall her.

"Tell me, what is your staryu's ability?" he finally said.

"Er…" Shadow whipped out his pokédex and checked his current party's status, opening Koyomi's data. "Natural Cure," he announced.

Cyrus relaxed. "Then there's no need to worry. It's broken, but not fatally. A staryu with that ability can regenerate itself rather quickly. A treatment and a good rest at a Pokémon center for a few days and she'll be good as new. Put her back in her Pokéball though so she doesn't suffer any longer."

Shadow wasted no time in recalling Koyomi, feeling extremely guilty. He stared at her pokéball for a solid minute before Wyatt's voice snapped him out of his trance.

"The pokédex says staryu can't restore their own gems, only their limbs."

"The pokédex is wrong," Cyrus announced. "Well, to be more precise, the pokédex is inaccurate. Staryu and their evolutions are perfectly capable of regenerating their core. However, it is extremely difficult and taxing on them when compared to regenerating a torn limb. It can still be done, but without the aid of a Pokémon center's technology, the healing process can take months, at least."

Shadow looked back to Koyomi's pokéball, still clenched in his hand. Another minute of silence passed before Cyrus called over to him.

"Do you still wish to continue?"

Shadow thought of his other two Pokémon. Thorn probably would want to at least try due to her pride, though Shadow doubted she'd be able to do too much against Steelix. Diamond would definitely want to try, and although he was more experienced and his attacks packed a bit more punch than Thorn, he wasn't sure the Sableye had enough power to break through the steelix's defense. He looked to the stands. Kimiko was watching him intently with a frown, still clearly worried about Koyomi. Wyatt, meanwhile, was smirking, all trace of concern gone. Shadow's own frown turned to a glare, and without a second thought, he grabbed and tossed Thorn's pokéball to the field.

He regretted it almost instantly, but he thought what's done is done, and he could always call it off if things got too bad, so he might as well let Thorn have a go. The chikorita in question looked up at her towering opponent curiously, then back at her trainer.

"Okay Thorn, here's the deal… I'm not allowed to give you commands this time, so it's all you. Koyomi's down so you have to beat the next two. I guess you're pretty much free to do whatever you want, but be careful, this thing is tough."

Thorn squeaked out an unmistakable battle cry and turned to face Steelix. With a nod from Cyrus, the massive snake slithered into the fray once more.

"Alright then, round two. Steelix, Thorn, begin!"

Steelix wasted no time in lunging forwards at Thorn. The Chikorita responded by not only leaping to the side out of the way, but also forming a bright pale yellow barrier around herself in the process. The Slam attack still connected, however, simply due to the steelix's size. Thorn was tossed back but managed to land on her feet, skidding a short distance before shaking her head and trotting back into position. Steelix, meanwhile, had actually been thrown off course when he hit the Reflect at an odd angle and had rebounded to the side, just barely avoiding crashing into the wall.

As the steelix began to right himself, Thorn whipped her leaf and sent a flurry of smaller, sharp leaves at him. Steelix didn't even seem to notice them as they bounced harmlessly off his metal body. Thorn let out another squeal as she ducked under Steelix's tail. Then, suddenly, the steel-type rammed his head right into the ground. At the moment of impact, several sharp rocks erupted from the ground around Thorn.

Much to her surprise, however, her barrier was sturdy enough to whittle down the rocks as they passed through it enough to where she was able to escape the Rock Tomb fairly easily. She was clearly beginning to tire, however; although the attacks weren't making direct contact with her, they still caused damage to her as they hit her Reflect. The steelix seemed to be surprised by this turn of events as well, as he repeated the attack with the same results.

"Good job, Thorn!" Shadow called, hoping he wasn't breaking the rules… after all, he had only been told not to give orders, not that he couldn't give encouragement. Thorn glanced back at him with a tired smile and bathed in the compliment for a second before turning back to her opponent.

As Steelix lunged for another Slam, the grass-type sprinted right towards him. She leapt to the side as he came crashing down and slid passed her. Thorn seized her moment to pause and began glowing a faint pale green as she attempted a Synthesis while Steelix tried to regain control over himself. Thorn's glow faded quickly though, and although she appeared slightly more energetic, she still clearly had not mastered the move yet.

Steelix whipped his tail at the Chikorita before she could dodge, and became trapped in his grasp. Thorn cried in pain for a few seconds before trying a counter attack. She whipped her leaf, scattering purple dust all over Steelix's body, until her Reflect barrier finally faded and she fell free. Steelix whipped his tail once more, scattering the useless poison dust and sending Thorn flying into a wall, where she collapsed.

The chikorita attempted to stand, one leg bent awkwardly and a trickle of blood dripping down her side where a jagged edge of Steelix's tail cut into her skin, but Shadow called her off, as did Cyrus to his Steelix. "Okay, it's clear we're not ready for this. We're done." Thorn immediately made sounds of protest, but again, Shadow cut her off. "You're in no shape to take on this thing _and_ his second Pokémon. We need more training. Okay?"

Thorn looked heartbroken as Shadow returned her to her pokéball. Cyrus recalled his steelix after a job well done, and then addressed Shadow. "Not bad, not bad at all. She's a gutsy one. If not for how severely your Staryu lost, I might have given up a badge right now."

"What?" Shadow asked. "But I didn't even beat a single one of your Pokémon."

Cyrus grinned. "No, but that wasn't the goal, now, was it? We don't do things like every other Pokémon League here, as I'm sure you already know. To those of us here in the Vidiva League, winning isn't everything. Remember, the goal was to show that your Pokémon can handle themselves, and that you trust them to do just that. Your goal was to show that you know you can rely on them, the way they're relying on you as their trainer. Your chikorita's devotion and your faith in her were proven to me during that battle. Your staryu, however… she didn't seem to know what to do with herself. You offered her little to no comfort after the initial glance, and she got considerably injured as a result. You should work with her a little more before trying again."

"Er, right… I'll do that," Shadow replied.

"I also want to warn you: the rules will not be exactly the same, should you return for a rematch. Don't be too discouraged, you're on the right track. Now, go on and have your staryu looked at."

* * *

"Uh, so, hey… how's your staryu doing?" Wyatt asked.

"She'll be okay," Shadow replied quietly. "I mean, she's hurting, obviously, but she'll recover."

"Hey, it's not your fault," Kimiko said, taking his hand in hers. "She just needs a bit more experience, that's all. Come on now, your ice cream is melting."

"I'm not really in the mood," Shadow said.

"Geez, are you two always like this?" Wyatt groaned, resting his forehead on the table. After the battle, the three trainers headed directly to the Pokémon center, where Shadow dropped off Thorn and Koyomi in the nurse's care and showed her Koyomi's condition, while Wyatt left Bill and a second pokéball. Afterwards, Wyatt suggested they get a treat to cheer themselves up.

"Like what?" the couple asked at once.

"Like… that," Wyatt said simply, pointing towards Shadow's melting chocolate ice cream. "You both are so… similar. You get like mega depressed after a loss. It's killing my mojo."

"It has nothing to do with the loss," Kimiko countered, now playing with her own melting cookie dough ice cream. "It's… how we lost, I guess. I don't know about you, but we actually care about our Pokémon. Shadow's worried about Koyomi, obviously. He feels guilty that she got so hurt and he couldn't do anything about it."

"And what's your excuse, then?"

"I… Okay, for the record, I don't like admitting to this. But… I knew this training thing wouldn't be easy. But I never thought I'd have this much trouble with it… And quite frankly, it's bothering me that I can't keep Fantomé in line. I mean… like I said, I knew it would take work, but… Well, I guess… I don't know. After working in the lab for so long, I guess I thought I knew how to handle baby Pokémon. That little dose of reality is like a slap in the face. And then there's Ariel, who's just as big a mystery, though at least she doesn't cause trouble doing it…"

"Who the hell's Ariel?" Wyatt asked.

"My clamperl. I got her the same day Shadow caught his staryu, actually. Ever since I caught her, she's done nothing but lock herself up in her shell. She won't even come out to eat. The nurses say she eats when I leave her for treatment, but not in front of them. It's like she just doesn't like people… but even if I ask her if she wants to be released, she still doesn't answer, so I… I just don't know what to do. I'd think she just doesn't like me, but if she's not opening up for anyone else either… I just don't know."

"Lab…? Nevermind. You two have quite the collection on your hands," Wyatt said, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms behind his head. "Can't say I don't understand, though. Taylor, my baltoy, was pretty much the same way when I first caught him. He was pretty easy to coax though, once I found out what he wanted. Gave him a bag of sand from his home to carry around with him, and he opened up like a book."

"So…" Kimiko started. "What you're saying is, I need to find out what it is that Ariel wants from me, and then she'll start socializing?"

"Yep."

"Okay, that makes sense, but how do I know what she wants if she won't even talk to me?"

"Have you tried asking her?" Wyatt asked, shoveling down a large mouthful of his strawberry ice cream.

"_Duh_! She didn't react at all. And even if she had, I have no way of actually understanding her."

"Sure you do," Wyatt said after swallowing. "Your gastly. Don't you know that they're supposed to be able to communicate telepathically?"

"Uh, no, I didn't," Kimiko said, turning to Shadow, who shook his head.

"Not that I was aware of, no… though now that you mention it, I do recall at least one instance where a gastly was able to use human speech. It was some old myth back in Kanto."

Wyatt laughed. "Maiden's Peak, right? Yeah, but that gastly was also said to be able to transform into other things and fuse Pokémon together," he replied with a wave of his hand. "I don't put much faith in myths. What I was talking about was telepathy. Ghost Pokémon aren't psychic to the degree of psychic-type Pokémon, obviously, but many ghosts do have some level of telepathic abilities. Sabrina of the Saffron gym once said that all people have this power, actually, but most humans aren't even aware of it if they try. Anyway, it has something to do with ghosts being all spiritual and stuff. I don't understand it, but then, who really does?"

"So you're saying she can train Fantomé to learn to communicate thoughts, right?" Shadow asked, intrigued. _That_ was something he'd never heard during his time working at Spruce's lab.

"Should be. I mean, not all ghosts can learn to do it, but it couldn't hurt to try. And then you can have him ask what Ariel's problem is, and he can then tell you. Good luck getting him to sit still long enough to say hello, though."

"What about my sableye? Can he learn that too?"

"No idea," Wyatt said. "He's a ghost so he should, in theory. But then, aren't sableye half dark-type? That might cause some problems, since telepathy is more of a psychic power. I already said I don't know how it works. Go ask a professor."

Shadow and Kimiko exchanged a glance at the word. Kimiko was the one to try to recover the situation. "Well… at least it's a start. I guess at least now I have something to work towards."

"So when's your rematch?" Wyatt asked Shadow. "I'm going back tomorrow. If I can't win then I'll just come back here later."

"I don't know," Shadow answered. "I'm going to train up a little bit before I try that again. Koyomi needs to rest for a few days first, though… so I'll probably just work with Thorn and Diamond until she's ready to join in. Then when I feel we've made enough progress, we'll go back. I really don't want to have to backtrack. We're here now, and I'm not leaving until I get what I came for."

"What about you?" Kimiko asked. "If you don't win, where will you go next? I think Neutron Town is the unofficial third stop, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but I'm heading for Phantom Village," Wyatt replied. "I want to see what's going on in that forest myself."

"Um, you _are_ aware of all the disappearances happening around there lately, right?"

"Of course. That's why I'm going. Think about it. People go into that forest and vanish, yet the gym is still operating. I want to know how they're doing it."

"Who says the town is still operating?" Shadow asked suspiciously. "Have you heard anything from someone who lives there?"

"No, but think about it. The gym is still open there. It's still operating. If it weren't, they'd have moved it to a temporary location in another city by now, right? Either what's going on hasn't reached them yet, or they've found a way to repel it. I want to see for myself, that's all."

"That's… a very interesting point," Shadow said, glancing at Kimiko. She looked back curiously, and Shadow was relieved that she still wasn't scarred by their own forest experience – or at least, she wasn't showing it.

"Why?" Wyatt asked suddenly. The couple snapped their attention back to him. "Do you two know what's going on?"

"No," Shadow replied. "About a week ago, after I caught my sableye, the two gym leaders from Phantom Village showed up out of the blue and wanted to speak with him. Then… well, there's definitely something going on in there, but they seemed to be at a loss as to what it is."

"Look," Kimiko added, her voice quiet and shaking. "If you're going in there… don't go alone. Whatever _is_ happening has the ghosts completely wound up… and they've attacked more than one traveler. I've got the scars to prove it." As she said that last line, her face flooded with color and she covered her mouth, as if she didn't intend to reveal that information. She glanced over as if to say "Now's now the time," but as she expected, Shadow jumped on it before she could say it.

"It _is_ still bothering you! Why didn't you say something?"

Kimiko turned to him furiously. "Of course it's still bothering me! Every single night I've had nightmares of being carried away to who knows where and eaten or something by that dusclops. But you can't do anything about it, so why should I tell you?" Shadow made to argue back but Kimiko continued, holding up her hand to silence him. "I know you feel guilty about it, okay? But it wasn't your fault. And that doesn't change the fact that you can't do anything about the nightmares. So there's no point bringing it up or feeling sorry about it. Just let it go!" And with that she shoved her chair back and ran out of the cafeteria, leaving Shadow in a stunned silence, while Wyatt looked between him and the door curiously.

"Should I even ask?"

It took a minute for Shadow to focus and reply. "It's a long story," he said. "I've never seen her lose control like that."

"That was losing control? Hah, that was nothing. You should see Giselle. Now there's a girl with a temper."

"No, really. She's always been in control of her emotions, ever since I've known her. That… I've never seen her upset like that before."

"Man, you'd never think you two are beginning Pokémon trainers just by looking at you. Quite the emotional roller coaster, you two are."

Shadow looked at him curiously for a moment. "Look, thanks for the ice cream. I'm going to go talk to her. And do yourself a favor… take her advice. If you're going into the forest, don't go alone."

* * *

"I said I don't want to talk about it!" Kimiko shouted from inside their room. Shadow stood in the hallway of the Pokémon center outside their current residence, where Kimiko locked herself inside.

"Kimiko, this isn't something you can just keep bottled up! Come on, stop making a scene. Let me in so we can talk!"

"You're the one making the scene, Alex! There's nothing to talk about. Just go away."

Shadow stopped trying to force open the door and just stared at it instead. He then glanced around; sure enough, a few people had come out of their rooms to investigate. He turned back to his door. "Alright... I'm going to go check on Koyomi."

He made it four steps before the door opened and Kimiko stepped out, her head bowed and her face a bright pink. She walked over and took his hand, then dragged him back inside, needlessly locking the door again. Shadow walked to the bed and sat down; his girlfriend moved beside him. He wrapped his arms around her as she leaned in and laid her forehead against his chest.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said. "Just… don't leave me."

And so Shadow sat there, his girlfriend clinging to him as she tried to calm herself, while he tried to convince himself that he wasn't the cause of her current distress.

* * *

One week, one healed starfish, and several intense training sessions later, Shadow stood opposite Cyrus once again, this time feeling much more confident about his victory. Kimiko sat alone in the stands, Wyatt having departed four days ago for Phantom Village after his second loss. Shadow had already grabbed a pokéball and was waited for Cyrus to choose his. The gym leader grinned as he addressed his foe.

"It's nice to see you back here. How's your staryu holding up?"

"Much better now," Shadow replied. "In fact, I think you'll be surprised by her growth. I'm sure she'd like to say hello, so if you're ready…"

"Hah, well, aren't you eager? Alright then. I trust you remember your previous visit?"

Shadow nodded. "You said the rules would change."

"I did indeed. Now," Cyrus raised his voice as he pulled not one, but two pokéballs, "we will still not be giving commands to our Pokémon. However, my little surprise isn't much of a surprise now since you've been here before. In addition, many trainers take time between their battles to pre-plan a strategy for their Pokémon and expect them to perform this plan during the rematch. So, to shake things up, this time we will engage in a double battle instead. I trust you know what that is?"

"Of course," Shadow said, frowning. While he didn't plan anything specifically for his rematch, per se, he'd spent all his time working individually with his Pokémon during their week of training; not once did he have them work together as a team. He had no idea how well they'd cooperate.

"Excellent! Then, let's get started." Cyrus tossed his two pokéballs onto his side of the field. The first opened in mid-air, revealing a menacing skarmory. The second one released a strange yellow and black creature on the ground that Shadow recognized as a mawile.

Realizing Cyrus had changed his Pokémon as well as his rules, Shadow studied his two opponents carefully. _Koyomi is still an obvious choice_, he thought. _She's the only one who can deal any neutral damage to steel-types. But who to pair her with…? Thorn did well against the steelix, but she still can't really fight back. Diamond is stronger and could probably handle the skarmory with that power gem, and night shade will still deal solid damage… but will he actually work with a partner? _

Shadow made his choice and threw his two pokéballs to the ground below. Thorn and Koyomi emerged in a flash of light, and looked at each other in confusion after realizing they were both actually on the field. Koyomi warily turned to their opponents, while Thorn looked up at her trainer.

"Sorry Thorn. This is the rule change. It's a double battle. Just do what you do, but look after each other, okay?"

The chikorita grinned and cooed happily before turning to her partner. Thorn and Koyomi spoke briefly, though Shadow couldn't imagine what they were saying. He hoped they had a plan, because he sure didn't expect this.

"Alright then!" Cyrus shouted. "Thorn, Koyomi, are you both ready?" The chikorita nodded and stepped forward eagerly, while the staryu held back a moment before floating beside her teammate. Mawile and skarmory took their positions as well, skarmory taking to the air and hovering there.

"Round two, then. Begin!"

* * *

**A/N: So, I think this may be my shortest chapter yet, the reason for that being that it was slightly rushed. I literally wrote this entire thing today, the day of posting, and depression wasn't my (only) motivation for a change. Which may leave you thinking, "Two chapters in three days instead of three months? The apocalypse is here!" Well, that's because today is officially June 21st of 2013, which means this silly little nine chapter fanfic of mine is officially three years old now. Yep. Hard to believe I've gotten so little done in so much time, but it's true, you can see the original publishing date for proof. So this chapter was basically pumped out just in time to celebrate this thing's birthday.****  
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**As with the last chapter, this one is only edited by myself as my beta remains unavailable for a little while. So please let me know if there's some typo or something that doesn't make sense. And that's really all I have to say about it. Happy birthday, little fanfic. Here's to actually completing you before another three years passes. Seren out~**


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